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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the war.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early efforts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His close relationship with Vance, who he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

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

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

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

Rubio's Response and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more stable standing.

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

However, his initial reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will require both sides to agree to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of possible ideas for ending this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the deal was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”