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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's latest push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

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

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, 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 echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, securing a lasting peace will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this day 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 moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is offered as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is also based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”