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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the Trump administration latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection 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 conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His close ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

After a chaotic first year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the government who has gone from a uncertain position inside the administration to more stable footing.

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

But, his first reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, achieving a durable peace will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of possible ideas for resolving this conflict based on input from each party of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker 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 plan pushed by the White House.

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

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also informed by previous and current input from Ukraine.”