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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the White House's newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. His close connection with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of President Trump's recent effort to settle the conflict.

Prior to his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was not known as a mediator or statesman, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were described as turbulent.

His close relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, signal the resurgence of the non-interventionist VP in talks to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Peace Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous initial trip to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a capitulation.

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

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

“All objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the proposal or misstates some key reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Attempts and EU Reactions

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

However, the new ceasefire proposal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme terms.

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

“A ceasefire will not be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he continued. “An agreement could be made by intelligent people operating in the actual situation.”

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

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a uncertain stature inside the administration to more firm standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his first reaction to the agreement was tepid:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough exchange of substantive and pragmatic proposals,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “And, achieving a durable ceasefire will require both sides to consent to difficult but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to develop a set of possible ideas for resolving this conflict drawing from feedback from both sides of this war.”

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

“Rubio made a phone call to us this day and I think he emphasized to us that we are the receivers of a offer that was delivered to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our ceasefire proposal.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he later stated. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for continuing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. However, it is additionally based on previous and current input from Ukraine.”