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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump recent effort to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first visit to the Trump 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 called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“All objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

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

“Peace will not be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable peace will require each party to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of possible ideas for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical 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 initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It 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 later stated. “It is offered as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”