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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's recent push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by smart people operating 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 tasked his staff with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

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

However, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a list of potential solutions for resolving this war based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly 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 contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

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

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a strong structure for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”