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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the war.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky first visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, 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 endorsing a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts 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 war from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more firm standing.

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

However, his first response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to challenging but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of possible solutions for ending this war drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

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

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”