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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the Trump administration latest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's latest push to settle the conflict.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a swift settlement that local officials have described as a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat 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, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or officials residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

Additionally, 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 staff with obtaining a signature on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable peace will require each party to consent to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to develop a list of possible ideas for ending this war based on feedback from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be 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 legislators to explain that the deal was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

“Rubio made a call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a solid structure for continuing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”