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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a peace deal 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 early remarks, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, 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 peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with securing a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has gone from a uncertain position inside the administration to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to create a list of possible solutions for ending this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to clarify that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for continuing discussions. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also informed by earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”