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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

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

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

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

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable peace will require both sides to consent to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will continue to create a set of potential solutions for ending this war drawing from feedback from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

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

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is offered as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also based on previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”