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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest push to conclude the war.

Prior to his last week's 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.

His strong ties with Vance, who he studied and maintains a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

After a chaotic first year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misrepresents some critical 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 ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new peace deal 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 terms.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It 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 phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with securing a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, achieving a durable peace will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of possible ideas for resolving this conflict based on input from each party of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the agreement was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”