The US army secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration ’s newest proposal to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine – but his ties to JD Vance have put a close ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president on the frontlines of Donald Trump ’s latest push to end the war.

Before his trip to Kyiv last week, Driscoll was not known for his role as a negotiator or statesman, and his early efforts at selling the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

His close ties to Vance, with whom he studied at Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy ’s disastrous first trip to the Trump White House

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