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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

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

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the war from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a set of possible ideas for ending this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, 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 legislators to explain that the deal was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is presented as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”