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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic initial year in power, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as 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 latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misinterprets the framework or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with securing a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

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

But, his initial reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will require each party to consent to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of possible ideas for ending this conflict based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio made a call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”