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

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His strong relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky initial visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

After a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the recent proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace won’t be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more stable standing.

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

But, his initial response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire will require each party to agree to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a list of potential solutions for resolving 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 contacted lawmakers to explain that the deal was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for ongoing negotiations. It is derived from input from the Moscow. But, it is also based on previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”