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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's recent effort to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This 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 respect. Now, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. 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 right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled 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 peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It could be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the government who has gone from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm standing.

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

But, his initial response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of possible solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

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

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