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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have described as a surrender.

Following a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the recent plan, which was crafted 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 proposal or misstates some key situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Doubts

That was a notably more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more firm footing.

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

But, his initial response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate each party to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of potential ideas for ending this war 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 recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid framework for continuing discussions. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”