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

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first trip to the 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 settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

After a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key aides, including 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 proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

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

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

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

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

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will require both sides to consent to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of possible solutions for ending this conflict based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the agreement was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“Rubio did make a call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is offered as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”