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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, was an unlikely diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with JD Vance has positioned a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's recent effort to settle the war.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the deal to European policymakers were labeled turbulent.

His close relationship with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, signal the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Negotiations

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Now, Ukraine is again resisting demands from the US to agree to a swift settlement that local officials have called a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a handful of Trump's key aides, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every criticism of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misinterprets the framework or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Initial Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were irritated by his initial speeches, in which he charged them of running from their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the recently published peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a peace framework that largely echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance argued that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a ceasefire that honored Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and prevent the war from resuming.

“Peace will not be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement might be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the peace plan in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his team with securing a signature on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that expressed by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm footing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past 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.

However, his first response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive exchange of substantive and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will necessitate both sides to agree to challenging but necessary concessions. This is the reason we are and will persist to develop a set of possible ideas for ending this war drawing from input from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted lawmakers to clarify that the deal was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary made a call to us this day and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently stated. “It is presented as a solid framework for continuing negotiations. It is based on input from the Moscow. But, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”