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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his early efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in power, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the latest plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some key situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new peace deal 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 ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US team 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 authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a lasting peace will necessitate both sides to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of possible ideas for ending this war based on input from each party of this war.”

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

“Rubio made a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is offered as a solid framework for continuing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”