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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's latest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to conclude the war.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

After a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest 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 misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials 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 presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more stable footing.

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

But, his initial reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, securing a durable ceasefire will require both sides to consent to challenging but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of possible solutions for resolving this war drawing from feedback from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary made a phone 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,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for continuing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”