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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's recent push to conclude the war.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have described as a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan 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 uncertain position inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled 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 deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will require each party to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of possible ideas for resolving this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio did make a call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a strong framework for continuing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”