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America's Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising envoy for the White House's newest proposal to end the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with Vice President Vance has placed a close associate of the Eurosceptic vice-president at the center of President Trump's recent push to conclude the conflict.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a mediator or diplomat, and his initial efforts to promote the agreement to officials in Europe were labeled turbulent.

His strong ties with Vance, with whom he attended Yale and maintains a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the non-interventionist vice-president in talks to end the Ukraine war.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who intervened during Ukraine's president's rocky initial visit to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a swift settlement that local officials have described as a capitulation.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a handful of Trump's top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, conservative adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, State Department head Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“Every objection of the peace framework the White House is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Early Attempts and European Responses

Vance's initial efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to renew relations with Moscow, were fruitless and left his camp feeling disappointed with their Russian counterparts. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches, in which he charged them of ignoring their constituents, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own supporters.

But, the new ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most assertive advocates for the agreement in the administration, even as the US has been under fire for endorsing a ceasefire plan that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In posts this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from resuming.

“A ceasefire will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or officials residing in a dream world,” he added. “It could be made by intelligent people living in the real world.”

It was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with securing a agreement on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Reaction and Private Doubts

That was a notably more enthusiastic endorsement of the proposal than that expressed by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was a member of a US team that went to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help refine the original 28-point ceasefire proposal in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and violent conflict such as the one in Ukraine demands an thorough discussion of serious and realistic proposals,” Rubio stated recently. “And, securing a durable peace will necessitate both sides to consent to difficult but essential concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of potential solutions for resolving this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was reportedly much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the deal was just a initial proposal from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon and I think he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “It is not our suggestion, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “This ceasefire plan was authored by the US,” he subsequently stated. “The framework is offered as a strong framework for continuing negotiations. The proposal is derived from input from the Russian side. However, it is additionally informed by previous and current contributions from Ukraine.”