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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of President Trump's latest effort to settle the war.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have described as a surrender.

After a chaotic first year in office, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy 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 son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

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

But, the recently published 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 under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more stable footing.

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

However, his first response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of possible solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, 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 deal was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is presented as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on previous and current input from Ukraine.”