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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the war.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His close relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

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

After a chaotic first year in office, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally 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 Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement 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 conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the White House 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 refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential solutions for ending this war drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed 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 delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “It is presented as a solid structure for continuing discussions. It is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”