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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest push to conclude the conflict.

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

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit 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 settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

Following a chaotic first year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and stop the conflict from resuming.

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

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 peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Doubts

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic support 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 gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of potential ideas for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered 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 solid framework for ongoing discussions. It is derived from feedback from the Russian side. But, it is additionally informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”