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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the war.

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

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and maintains a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All objection of the peace framework the administration is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more firm footing.

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

But, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable peace will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a list of potential ideas for resolving this war based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

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 lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients 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 acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a strong framework for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also informed by earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”