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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent effort to conclude the war.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his early efforts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, who he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and stop the conflict from resuming.

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

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his first response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will require both sides to consent to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal 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 delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is offered as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. But, it is additionally informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”