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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's key advisers, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the latest plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the war from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will require each party to consent to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to clarify that the agreement was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers 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 acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is presented as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”