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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the war.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

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

Following a tumultuous initial 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 adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and stop the war from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

That was a notably more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

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

But, his initial reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire will require each party to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the deal was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It 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 wrote. “The framework is presented as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is also informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”