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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to conclude the war.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

After a chaotic initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced 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 outspoken advocate of the latest plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published peace deal mirrored 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 accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

“Peace will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

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

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the administration to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will require each party to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of possible ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later wrote. “It is presented as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”