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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

His close ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a swift settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

After a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, 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 assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the war from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm standing.

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 authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a durable peace will require both sides to consent to challenging but essential concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of possible ideas for resolving this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. But, it is additionally based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”