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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump latest push to conclude the war.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, who he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's key advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the recent plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by smart people living 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 mainly instructed his team with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his first response to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, achieving a lasting peace will require each party to consent to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will continue to create a set of possible ideas for ending this war drawing from input from each party of this war.”

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

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong framework for continuing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. But, it is also informed by previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”