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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump latest push to settle the war.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick settlement that local officials have described as a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest plan, which was developed 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 developing either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement 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, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored 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 mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

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

However, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a durable peace will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the agreement was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document 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 subsequently stated. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. It is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by previous and current input from Ukraine.”