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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of Donald Trump latest push to settle the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

Following a chaotic first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head 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, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misstates some key situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

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

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Doubts

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more firm standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first response to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “And, achieving a lasting peace will require both sides to agree to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of possible ideas for resolving this conflict drawing from feedback from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. 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 merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“Rubio did make a call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is offered as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”