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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of President Trump's recent push to settle the war.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial attempts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

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

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians living in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable peace will require each party to consent to challenging but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the deal was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is presented as a strong framework for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”