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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration newest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest push to settle the war.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial attempts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to accept a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in office, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and stop the war from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

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

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a shaky stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

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

However, his first response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of potential solutions for resolving this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was merely a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.

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

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is offered as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is also based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”