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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His strong relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest push to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of potential ideas for resolving this war drawing from feedback from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful 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 explain that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”