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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the war.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his initial attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have described as a surrender.

After a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state 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, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It might be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more stable footing.

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

But, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive discussion of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting peace will require each party to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this war drawing from feedback from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the deal was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is offered as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”