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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of President Trump's recent push to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to European policymakers were described as chaotic.

Driscoll's close ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have described as a surrender.

After a chaotic first year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All criticism of the peace framework the administration is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early attempts at negotiating a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he charged them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published peace deal 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 under fire for endorsing a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or officials living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more firm standing.

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

But, his initial reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a lasting peace will necessitate each party to agree to challenging but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of possible ideas for resolving this war based on input from each party of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

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

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is offered as a strong framework for continuing discussions. It is based on input from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”