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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent push to settle the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his early efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

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

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with securing a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more stable standing.

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

However, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting ceasefire will require each party to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will continue to create a set of potential ideas for resolving this war drawing from feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to clarify that the deal was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, 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 strong structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”