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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the war.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

After a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with obtaining a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly 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 gone from a uncertain position inside the administration to more stable footing.

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

But, his first reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of possible solutions for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker 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 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 think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a solid framework for continuing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”