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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent push to settle the war.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

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

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

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked 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 Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm standing.

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

But, his first reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this war drawing from feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for continuing discussions. It is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”