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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration latest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's recent push to settle the conflict.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and shares a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who intervened during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is again resisting pressure from the US to accept a swift deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous initial year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be influenced by a small group of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken supporter of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

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

Initial Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new peace deal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a dream world,” he added. “It might be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more full-throated endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the government who has gone from a shaky position inside the administration to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his first reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Ending a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “And, securing a lasting peace will necessitate each party to consent to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will continue to develop a set of potential solutions for ending this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more skeptical of the plan. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds said recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to clarify that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is offered as a strong structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and current input from Ukraine.”