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America's Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a negotiator or diplomat, and his early efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

His close relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy rocky 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 accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

After a chaotic first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a handful of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were irritated by his early remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “It might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that expressed by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more firm standing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that went to Geneva this past weekend to meet 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 first reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to difficult but necessary compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of possible solutions for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from each party of this conflict.”

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

“Rubio did make a 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 delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is presented as a strong structure for ongoing discussions. The proposal is based on input from the Russian side. But, it is also based on earlier and current input from Ukraine.”