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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have described as a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in office, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his early 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 peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials living in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

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

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

That was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain position 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 moderate the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his first response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will require both sides to consent to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a set of possible ideas for ending this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “It is offered as a solid framework for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is additionally based on earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”