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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to conclude the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent plan, 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 developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help refine the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, securing a lasting peace will require both sides to consent to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this conflict based on input from each party of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this day 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. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”