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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his early efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have called a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the government who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help refine 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 complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential solutions for ending this conflict based on input from each party of this conflict.”

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

“The Secretary made a call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “It is offered as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. It is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”