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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent effort to conclude the war.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, who he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It might be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with obtaining a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

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

But, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “And, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a set of possible solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan 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 receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is presented as a solid framework for continuing discussions. It is derived from input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”