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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Euroskeptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's latest push to conclude the war.

Prior to his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first visit to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to accept a swift settlement that local officials have described as a surrender.

After a tumultuous initial year in office, international decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's top aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

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

“All objection of the peace framework the administration is developing either misinterprets the framework or misstates some key reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his initial remarks, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been criticized 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 honored Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “An agreement might be made by intelligent people operating in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a signature on the ceasefire accord prior to Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Concerns

That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hawk in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this past 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 first reaction to the deal was lukewarm:

“Ending a complex and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable peace will require each party to agree to challenging but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of possible solutions for resolving this conflict drawing from feedback from each party of this war.”

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

“Rubio did make a phone call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered 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 written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is also based on earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”