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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's recent push to conclude the conflict.

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

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

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

After a chaotic first year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by smart people operating 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 primarily instructed his team with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that went to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will require each party to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of potential ideas for ending this conflict drawing from input from each party of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio made a call to us this day 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 fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is also based on earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”