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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of President Trump's latest effort to conclude the war.

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

His strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist 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 rocky initial trip 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 swift deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out 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. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

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

Rubio's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable standing.

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

However, his first response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, securing a durable peace will require both sides to consent to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of potential solutions for ending this war drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. 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 just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“Rubio made a call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is also informed by previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”