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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the conflict.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, who he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published peace deal mirrored 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 ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

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

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will require each party to agree to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of potential ideas for ending this conflict based on input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be 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 clarify that the agreement was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”