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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first 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, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he added. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more stable standing.

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

But, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a list of possible ideas for resolving this war drawing from input from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon 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 officials,” stated 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 wrote. “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”