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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the conflict.

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

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky first visit 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 agree to a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

After a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the recent plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with securing a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help refine the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a list of potential solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to clarify that the deal was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is also based on previous and current input from Ukraine.”