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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close relationship with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest push to conclude the war.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have described as a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's key advisers, such as 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 crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with obtaining a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will require both sides to consent to difficult but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a set of possible ideas for resolving this war drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, 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 contacted legislators to clarify that the deal was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I believe 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 align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for continuing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is additionally informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”