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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the White House's latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to settle the war.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that went to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this war drawing from feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator 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 initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for continuing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also informed by earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”