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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's top advisers, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the peace framework the White House is working on either misinterprets the framework or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

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 disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the conflict from restarting.

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

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the original 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 deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of possible ideas for resolving this war drawing from feedback from each party of this war.”

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

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a strong structure for continuing discussions. It is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”