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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to settle the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his early efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky first trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

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

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It 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 conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of potential solutions for resolving this conflict based on feedback from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more skeptical 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 initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a solid framework for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”