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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close relationship with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront 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 efforts to sell the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials residing in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

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

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat 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 firm standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will require both sides to consent to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of possible ideas for ending this war based on input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal 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 afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for continuing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. But, it is also based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”