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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent push to settle the war.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His close relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat 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 son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the peace framework the administration is developing either misinterprets the framework or misstates some key situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

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

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 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 complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable peace will necessitate each party to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to create a list of possible solutions for ending this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

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

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a strong structure for continuing discussions. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”