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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump latest push to settle the war.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic first year in office, international actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled 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 leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire will require both sides to consent to challenging but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this war based on input from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to clarify that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“Rubio did make a call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers 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 moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”