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America's Army Secretary, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the White House's newest initiative to resolve the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's recent effort to settle the conflict.

Before his recent trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's strong ties with Vance, who he attended Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The VP's Role in Peace Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more courtesy. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting demands from the US to accept a swift deal that local officials have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous first year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a vocal advocate of the latest plan, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the ceasefire plan the administration is working on either misinterprets the framework or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Efforts and EU Responses

Vance's early attempts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia, while simultaneously seeking to renew ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. European officials, in turn, were angered by his early speeches, in which he accused them of running from their constituents, who Vance said held restrictionist and right-leaning positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

But, the new peace deal mirrored his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that mostly echoes Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian independence, be agreeable to each party, and stop the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by unsuccessful diplomats or politicians living in a dream world,” he continued. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly instructed his staff with securing a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this week in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Concerns

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

Rubio was a member of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial reaction to the deal was tepid:

“Stopping a complex and violent war such as the one in Ukraine demands an extensive discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable peace will require both sides to consent to difficult but essential concessions. This is the reason we are and will continue to create a set of potential solutions for resolving this war drawing from input from both sides of this war.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be 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 called lawmakers to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary made a phone call to us this day and I think he emphasized 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 recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is presented as a solid structure for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is also based on previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”