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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to settle the war.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This 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 respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published peace deal mirrored his stances, 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 endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated support of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

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

However, his first reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable peace will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, 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 explain that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary made a call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “It is presented as a strong structure for continuing discussions. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”