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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

Following a chaotic first year in office, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally 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 Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is working on either misinterprets the framework or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government 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 moderate the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his first response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will require each party to consent to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of potential solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“Rubio did make a call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated 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 later wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”