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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the White House's latest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the conflict.

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

His close relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, international actions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he added. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more stable footing.

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

However, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a durable peace will require each party to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of potential ideas for ending this war drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

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

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for ongoing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”