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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration newest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest push to settle the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning 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 deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House 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 original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of possible solutions for ending this conflict based on feedback from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”