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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's close relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump latest effort to conclude the war.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, signal the rising influence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky first visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

After a tumultuous first year in office, international actions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's key aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the recent proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that honored Ukrainian independence, be acceptable to each party, and stop the conflict from resuming.

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

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with obtaining a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm standing.

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

However, his initial reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a durable peace will necessitate both sides to agree to challenging but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a set of possible ideas for ending this war drawing from input from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was reportedly 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 called legislators to clarify that the deal was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is presented as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. It is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is also informed by earlier and current contributions from Ukraine.”