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The US Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an surprising envoy for the White House's latest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to conclude the war.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or diplomat, and his early attempts to sell the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a personal bond, signal the resurgence 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 initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to agree to a swift deal that local officials have described as a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in power, international decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group of Trump's key aides, including top aide Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside the Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev.

“All objection of the peace framework the administration is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical situation on the ground,” the VP wrote.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were irritated by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and right-leaning views similar to those of Trump's own supporters.

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the government, 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 argued 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 failed diplomats or politicians living in a dream world,” he continued. “It might be made by smart people living in the actual situation.”

It was Vance who followed up on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a uncertain position inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the deal was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complex 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 durable peace will require both sides to agree to challenging but necessary compromises. This is the reason we are and will persist to create a list of potential ideas for ending this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this war.”

In private, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called legislators to explain that the deal was just a preliminary proposal from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the administration.

“The Secretary made a call to us this afternoon and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later stated. “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing discussions. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”