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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the war.

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

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

After a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

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

Initial Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting ceasefire will require both sides to consent to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of possible solutions for resolving this war based on feedback from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

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