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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the White House's newest proposal to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent push to settle the war.

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

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump's key advisers, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the latest plan, which was developed 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 critical situation on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

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

“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Concerns

That was a distinctly more full-throated support of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable footing.

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

However, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will require each party to consent to challenging but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a set of possible ideas for resolving this war based on input from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to explain that the agreement was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this day and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for continuing discussions. The proposal is based on input from the Russian side. But, it is additionally informed by previous and current input from Ukraine.”