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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the war.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His close relationship with Vance, who he studied and shares a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the recent plan, 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 working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

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

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this 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 reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a list of possible ideas for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said 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 administration.

“Rubio 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 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 later stated. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. It is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”