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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest push to settle the war.

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

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

After a chaotic first year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat 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 objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials 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:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting peace will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a list of possible solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the deal was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this afternoon 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. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a solid structure for continuing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also based on previous and current input from Ukraine.”