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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of President Trump's latest effort to conclude the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his early efforts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were described as chaotic.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky first visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a chaotic first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's key aides, such as top aide 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 latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

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

Initial Attempts and EU Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

“Peace will not be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will necessitate both sides to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for resolving this war based on input from both sides of this war.”

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

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. It is based on feedback from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”