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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

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

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky first visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic initial year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

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

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the administration to more firm standing.

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

But, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of potential ideas for ending this war based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the agreement was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“Rubio 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 proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is offered as a solid framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”