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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the war.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his early attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

After a chaotic initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It might be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with securing a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will require both sides to consent to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of potential ideas for resolving this conflict based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. 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 initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio did make a call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”