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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration latest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's latest push to settle the war.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to sell the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the recent proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US team 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 leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will require both sides to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of possible solutions for ending this war drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio did make a call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid framework for continuing discussions. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”