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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the war.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

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

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

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

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

“Every criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the government, 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 past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the conflict from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable footing.

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

But, his first response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a set of possible solutions for ending this war 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 last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a phone 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 delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”