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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the administration to more stable standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this past weekend to confer 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 response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, securing a lasting peace will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of possible ideas for resolving this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

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

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer 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 authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”