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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the conflict.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his early efforts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

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

After a tumultuous first year in power, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

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 criticized for endorsing a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the conflict from restarting.

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

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

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help refine 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 lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will continue to create a list of potential solutions for resolving this conflict based on input from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

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

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “It is presented as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. It is derived from input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”