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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the recent plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is developing either misinterprets the framework or misstates some key situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early remarks, 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 supporters.

But, the new peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the war from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm standing.

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

However, his initial response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will require both sides to consent to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to develop a list of possible solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful 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 clarify that the deal was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”