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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's latest effort to settle the war.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

His close relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky first visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the government 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 leaders to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of possible solutions for resolving this war based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the deal was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

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

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is offered as a solid framework for ongoing negotiations. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”