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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's latest push to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Role in Peace Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head 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 Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

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

Initial Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his early remarks, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to both sides, and stop the war from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by failed negotiators or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he added. “It could be made by smart people operating in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his team with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went 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 leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of possible solutions for resolving this war based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It 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 wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. It is based on input from the Russian side. However, it is also based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”