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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the conflict.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, 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 outspoken advocate of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his positions, 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 accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

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

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, achieving a lasting peace will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of potential ideas for resolving this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“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 presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “It is offered as a strong structure for continuing discussions. It is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”