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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the war.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a durable peace will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a solid framework for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”