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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in office, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a dream world,” he continued. “It might be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with securing a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

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

But, his first reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will require each party to agree to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a set of possible solutions for resolving this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the deal was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is presented as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is also informed by earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”