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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the White House's latest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his early efforts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the Trump 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 quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

After a chaotic initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, 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 vocal supporter of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his early speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

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

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated support of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, securing a lasting peace will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a list of possible solutions for resolving this conflict based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to clarify that the agreement was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary made a call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a strong structure for continuing discussions. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”