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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first 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 agree to a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's key advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

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

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his first response to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to create a set of possible ideas for ending this conflict based on input from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker 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 merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a call to us this day 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 officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

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