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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

His close relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state 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, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his early 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 recently published ceasefire proposal 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 endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and stop the conflict from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm standing.

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

However, his first response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, achieving a lasting ceasefire will require both sides to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of possible solutions for ending this war drawing from input from each party of this war.”

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

“Rubio made a phone call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is also based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”