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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest push to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

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

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

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

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “It might be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his first reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

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

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. It is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”