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The US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, including 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 proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with obtaining a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a set of possible ideas for ending this conflict drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to explain that the deal was just a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal 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. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a strong structure for continuing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is also based on previous and current input from Ukraine.”