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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to sell the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law 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 key situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support 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 gone from a uncertain position inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of potential solutions for resolving this war drawing from input from each party of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a 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 delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is offered as a strong framework for continuing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”