By Mark Stone, US correspondent
There is a whiff of domestic politics and rivalry surrounding this latest Ukraine showdown.
Here’s how a few key US figures are shaping the process.
Vice president JD Vance
The American decision to put a rocket under the quest for peace in Ukraine appears to have JD Vance’s fingerprints on it.
The territorial elements of the peace plan are almost identical to a proposal put forward by Vance in the summer of 2024 before Trump won the election.
Vance’s stance on Ukraine has always leaned towards questioning the point of it all.
He led the attacks of Zelenskyy at the Oval Office in February.
Vance is almost certain to run for the presidency in 2028. He knows that the MAGA base (who he’ll need in 2028) cares less about Ukraine and much more about domestic challenges. He wants Ukraine finished and fixed quickly.
He has recently issued less than subtle hints to President Trump to spend more time on “the home front”.
He is also locked in a (surely-soon-to-be public) rivalry for the 2028 race with Marco Rubio. That’s vitally important context.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio
The rivalry between Rubio and Vance is obvious.
It was always to be a relationship clash. Vance is the America-first Appalachian boy done good. Rubio is the more traditional interventionist neoconservative.
President Trump publicly encourages this rivalry. “JD or Marco…?” He frequently says.
While the thrust of this peace plan has Vance hallmarks on it, it’s Rubio who’s now in Geneva ironing it all out with the Ukrainians and Europeans.
Rubio is also at the heart of a row about who actually authored the plan. Senators say he told them it was a Russian plan, but he then took to social media to insist it’s an American plan.
Secretary of the army Dan Driscoll
Dan Driscoll has emerged as a key figure in all of this – one to watch.
As secretary of the army, he is one of the top civilians within the Pentagon. He leads the US Department of the Army, which is one of the three military departments within the Department of War (formally Department of Defence)
In the hierarchy, he sits just under defence secretary Pete Hegseth, but there is some speculation that he could replace Hegseth.
He is close to JD Vance (the two were at Yale together) and Trump likes him. Unusually for a Trump official, he also enjoys bipartisan popularity.
It was he who was sent to present the 28-point plan to Zelenskyy in Kyiv three days ago.
Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff
Witkoff was the architect behind the Gaza peace plan. And while he has gained significant respect among countries in the Middle East for that, there is underlying unease about his abilities when it comes to Ukraine.
Critics suggest he has displayed naivety and has been easily deceived by Putin and those around him.
He reports directly to the president and often appears to do the work that would usually be done by the sixth day of state.
So it is notable that on this occasion in Geneva Rubio has accompanied Whitco. It’s not clear how aligned their views on Ukraine are.
Outgoing Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg
The retired US general has been the envoy to Ukraine since Trump was reelected.
Respected by Zelenskyy and by European countries, he has effectively been Trump’s man in Ukraine this year.
However, it was announced this week that he will step down in January.
He has been increasingly sidelined in the negotiations, and while he has a direct line to the president, he has struggled to gain traction with Rubio.
With him gone, Ukraine and Europe have lost an ally in the White House.
