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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump latest effort to settle the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his early efforts to sell the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

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

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's key advisers, 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 advocate of the recent plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Efforts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

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 under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

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

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more stable footing.

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

However, his first response to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, securing a durable peace will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from feedback from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. It is based on input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”