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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration newest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent 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 ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians living in a dream world,” he continued. “It might be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

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

But, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of possible solutions for resolving this war drawing from input from each party of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the deal was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for continuing discussions. It is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”