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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to agree to a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

After a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's top advisers, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians living in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

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

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated support of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

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

However, his first response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable peace will necessitate both sides to consent to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this war based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

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

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is also based on previous and current input from Ukraine.”