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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close relationship with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest effort to settle the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous initial year in office, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal 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, meanwhile, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated support of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm 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 original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his first reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will require both sides to consent to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a list of possible solutions for ending this war drawing from feedback from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the agreement was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”