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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. His close relationship with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to settle the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the deal to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic first year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the recent proposal, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, alongside the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by failed negotiators or officials living in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people living in the actual situation.”

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

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the administration to more stable standing.

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

But, his initial response to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “And, achieving a lasting ceasefire will require each party to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently 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 plan pushed by the White House.

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is presented as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”