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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the White House's latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic VP at the center of President Trump's latest effort to conclude the conflict.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His close relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have called a surrender.

After a chaotic first year in office, international decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's top aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Early Attempts and European Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling disappointed with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held restrictionist and conservative views close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the recently published peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for accepting a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to each party, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed negotiators or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “An agreement might be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Concerns

That was a notably more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to authorities in Kyiv.

But, his initial reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will require each party to agree to challenging but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a set of potential solutions for ending this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

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

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

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. But, it is also based on previous and current input from Ukraine.”