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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest push to settle the war.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including top aide 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 proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the peace framework the administration is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials living in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked 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 Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

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

But, his first response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, achieving a durable peace will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a list of possible ideas for resolving this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio made a call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is presented as a solid framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is also informed by earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”