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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the conflict.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and maintains a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a quick settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy 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 son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his early remarks, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

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

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and stop the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to create a list of possible solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“Rubio made a call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”