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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent effort to conclude the war.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Peace Efforts

This 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 pressure from the US to agree to a swift settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more stable standing.

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

However, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will require both sides to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for ending this conflict based on input from both sides of this war.”

In private, 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 contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is presented as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”