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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to conclude the conflict.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

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

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with securing a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the administration to more stable footing.

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

However, his initial reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “And, securing a durable peace will require each party to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to create a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on feedback from each party of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the deal was merely a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“Rubio made a call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later stated. “It is presented as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”