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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the conflict.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous initial year in power, international decisions 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, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is working on either misinterprets the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

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

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, securing a durable peace will require each party to agree to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to create a list of possible ideas for ending this conflict based on input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the agreement was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is also based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”