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America's Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, emerged as an unlikely envoy for the White House's latest initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's close connection with Vice President Vance has positioned a close associate of the Euroskeptic vice-president at the forefront of Donald Trump recent push to conclude the conflict.

Before his last week's visit to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the agreement to European policymakers were labeled chaotic.

Driscoll's close relationship with Vance, who he attended Yale and maintains a personal bond, indicate the rising influence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

The VP's Role in Ceasefire Negotiations

This was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous initial trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against demands from the US to agree to a quick deal that Ukrainian leaders have called a capitulation.

After a tumultuous first year in power, foreign policy decisions in the White House are reportedly influenced by a small group of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and of course Vance.

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

“All criticism of the ceasefire plan the White House is developing either misinterprets the proposal or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” the VP stated.

Initial Efforts and European Reactions

Vance's initial attempts at negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while simultaneously attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were fruitless and left his team feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, in turn, were angered by his initial speeches, in which he accused them of ignoring their voters, who Vance said held anti-immigration and conservative views similar to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the recently published peace deal closely resembled his stances, and he has been one of the most assertive spokespeople for the deal in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist demands.

In social media updates this weekend, Vance asserted that a ceasefire agreement would have to establish a truce that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the conflict from restarting.

“Peace will not be made by unsuccessful negotiators or politicians residing in a dream world,” he continued. “It could be made by smart people living in the real world.”

Additionally, it was Vance who continued on the introduction of the ceasefire proposal in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had primarily tasked his staff with securing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

Rubio's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a distinctly more enthusiastic endorsement of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hardliner in the government who has transitioned from a uncertain position inside the White House to more stable footing.

Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help refine the original 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

But, his first reaction to the agreement was lukewarm:

“Stopping a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend. “And, securing a durable peace will necessitate both sides to agree to challenging but essential compromises. That is why we are and will persist to develop a list of potential solutions for resolving this war based on feedback from both sides of this conflict.”

In private, he was said to be much more skeptical of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds stated last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had contacted legislators to clarify that the agreement was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan advocated by the administration.

“The Secretary did make a phone call to us this day and I believe he emphasized to us that we are the recipients of a offer that was presented to one of our officials,” stated Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio acted swiftly to align himself. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he subsequently wrote. “It is offered as a strong structure for continuing discussions. It is based on feedback from the Russian side. But, it is additionally based on earlier and ongoing contributions from Ukraine.”