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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the center of Donald Trump recent effort to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

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

Following a chaotic first year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Efforts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he charged them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians residing in a dream world,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his team with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, achieving a durable peace will require both sides to consent to difficult but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a set of potential solutions for resolving this conflict based on feedback from each party of this war.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the agreement was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated 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 proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is presented as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. It is derived from input from the Russian side. But, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”