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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration newest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the conflict.

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

His close relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

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

Following a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's top aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and European Reactions

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 frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Doubts

That was a notably more full-throated support of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the administration to more stable standing.

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

But, his first response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will require each party to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of potential ideas for ending this conflict drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

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

“The Secretary 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 delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”