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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump latest effort to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have described as a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the war from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

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 securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has gone from a uncertain position inside the administration to more firm standing.

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

However, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to challenging but essential concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of potential ideas for resolving this war drawing from feedback from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is presented as a strong framework for continuing discussions. It is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”