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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a swift settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Efforts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

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

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, 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 could be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

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

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

But, his initial reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to difficult but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a set of possible solutions for resolving this conflict based on feedback from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the deal was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is offered as a solid structure for continuing discussions. It is derived from feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”