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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the White House's newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the war.

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

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

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

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and stop the conflict from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

That was a notably more full-throated support of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more stable footing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this 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:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable peace will require both sides to consent to challenging but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to create a set of possible solutions for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from each party of this conflict.”

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

“Rubio did make a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It 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 later stated. “The framework is presented as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. It is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”