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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest effort to conclude the war.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

His close ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Attempts and EU Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

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

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

“Peace will not 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.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Doubts

That was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more firm footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated recently. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to challenging but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to create a list of possible solutions for resolving this war based on input from each party of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the deal was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the White House.

“Rubio made a phone call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “It is offered as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”