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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the war.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his early efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, who he studied and maintains a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a quick deal that local officials have described as a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions 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 assertive 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 extreme demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff 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 full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will require each party to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of potential ideas for resolving this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly 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 legislators to explain that the deal was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

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

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Russian side. But, it is also based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”