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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's latest effort to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early efforts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top advisers, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued 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 before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help refine the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will require each party to agree to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a set of possible ideas for resolving this conflict based on input from each party of this conflict.”

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

“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 delivered 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 written by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for ongoing negotiations. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”