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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest push to conclude the war.

Before his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his early efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal 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 peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key situation on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, 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 accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

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

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of serious and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “And, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to consent to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of possible solutions for resolving 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 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 initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

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

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is presented as a solid framework for ongoing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”