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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the White House's latest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His strong relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to settle the conflict.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing 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 developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless 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 running from their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

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 under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

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

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Doubts

That was a notably more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the administration to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his first response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will require each party to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a list of possible solutions for ending this conflict based on feedback from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon 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,” said Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”