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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration newest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to settle the war.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His close relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky first trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a swift settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's top advisers, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal supporter of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement might be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

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 ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

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

However, his initial reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire 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 resolving this war drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made 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 officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for ongoing negotiations. It is derived from feedback from the Russian side. But, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”