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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

After a chaotic initial year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain position inside the administration to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting peace will necessitate each party to consent to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of potential solutions for ending this conflict drawing from input from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is offered as a solid framework for ongoing negotiations. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. However, it is also based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”