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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the conflict.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

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

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a quick deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic first year in power, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

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

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm footing.

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

However, his initial reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will require each party to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of potential ideas for resolving this war drawing from feedback from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a solid structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on input from the Russian side. However, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”