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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump latest push to settle the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have called a surrender.

After a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Efforts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

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

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

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

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his first response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of potential ideas for ending this war drawing from input from each party of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the deal was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers 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 acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. It is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”