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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

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 again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's key aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp 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 said held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

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

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

Additionally, 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 team with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm standing.

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

But, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for ending this conflict based on input from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later wrote. “It is presented as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is also based on earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”