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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration latest proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest push to settle the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his early attempts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Involvement in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first trip to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have called a surrender.

After a tumultuous initial year in office, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the peace framework the White House is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were irritated by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new ceasefire proposal 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 criticized for endorsing a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

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

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful diplomats or officials living in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement could be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the peace deal prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated support of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more firm standing.

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

However, his initial reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, achieving a lasting ceasefire will require each party to consent to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for resolving this conflict based on input from both sides of this conflict.”

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

“Rubio did make a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was written by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is offered as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is also informed by previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”