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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous initial year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the government who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, securing a lasting peace will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of possible solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to clarify that the agreement was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is offered as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. It is based on input from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”