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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to conclude the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

After a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misinterprets the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

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

But, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

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

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will require each party to consent to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of possible solutions for ending this war based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

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

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is presented as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. But, it is also informed by earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”