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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the White House's newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the war.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the recent 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 developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Doubts

That was a notably more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky stature inside the administration to more stable standing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will require each party to consent to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a list of potential ideas for resolving this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be 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 lawmakers to clarify that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“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 peace plan.”

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