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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the White House's latest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the war.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a chaotic first year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, 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 mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

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

But, his first reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a durable ceasefire will require each party to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to create a set of potential ideas for ending this conflict based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. 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 agreement was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”