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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his initial attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his positions, 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 accepting a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal 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 position inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of potential solutions for resolving this conflict based on input from both sides of this war.”

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

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated 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 wrote. “It is presented as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. However, it is also informed by previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”