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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to settle the conflict.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic first year in office, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's top advisers, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

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

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

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

But, his first response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will require both sides to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of possible ideas for resolving this conflict based on input from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio did make a call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is presented as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Russian side. But, it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”