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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's 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.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

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

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of possible ideas for resolving this conflict based on input from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly 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 called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio did make a call to us this day 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. “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 subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”