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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the conflict.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations 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 respect. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a swift settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, international actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with securing a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Doubts

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past 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 agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a set of possible ideas for resolving this conflict drawing from feedback from each party of this conflict.”

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

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is based on input from the Russian side. But, it is also informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”