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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of Donald Trump latest push to settle the war.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky first visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to agree to a quick settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the latest plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

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

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

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

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, achieving a lasting peace will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a list of possible solutions for ending this conflict based on input from each party of this war.”

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

“Rubio made a call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” said 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 wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. It is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”