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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the conflict.

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

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

After a tumultuous initial year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful advocates for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement might be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first response to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of possible solutions for ending this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to clarify that the deal was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is presented as a strong framework for ongoing discussions. It is based on input from the Russian side. But, it is additionally based on earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”