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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration latest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of Donald Trump latest effort to conclude the conflict.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

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

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly 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 administration who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, achieving a durable peace will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of potential ideas for ending this conflict based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

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

“Rubio did make a call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is also informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”