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The US Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. His strong connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a key ally of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of President Trump's latest push to settle the war.

Prior to his recent visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his early attempts to sell the deal to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

His strong relationship with Vance, with whom he studied and maintains a close friendship, indicate the rising influence of the non-interventionist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Ukraine's president's disastrous first visit to the White House in March and insisted he show Trump more respect. Currently, Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to agree to a swift settlement that Ukrainian leaders have described as a surrender.

Following a tumultuous first year in power, international actions in the White House are said to be shaped by a small group 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 outspoken advocate of the latest plan, which was crafted by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every objection of the peace framework the administration is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance stated.

Initial Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's early efforts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to renew ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian counterparts. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance claimed held restrictionist and conservative positions similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published ceasefire proposal closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the administration, even as the US has been criticized for endorsing a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin's extreme demands.

In social media updates this past weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the conflict from restarting.

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

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily instructed his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Reaction and Internal Concerns

Vance's stance was a notably more enthusiastic support of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the administration who has gone from a shaky position inside the administration to more firm standing.

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

However, his initial response to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough discussion of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote recently. “Furthermore, securing a lasting ceasefire will necessitate each party to consent to challenging but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will persist to create a list of potential solutions for ending this conflict based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. 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 merely a initial proposal from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary did make 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 delivered to one of our representatives,” stated Rounds. “The document is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “The framework is offered as a solid structure for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is based on feedback from the Moscow. However, it is additionally informed by earlier and ongoing input from Ukraine.”