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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of Donald Trump recent push to settle the war.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to agree to a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

Following a chaotic first year in office, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some key situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed 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 assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a lasting ceasefire will require each party to consent to challenging but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for ending this conflict based on input from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the deal was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”