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For a brief period, the former US president seemed to take a resolute stance concerning the Ukrainian conflict. After issuing statements of "severe repercussions" last August if Putin continued obstructing peace negotiations, he finally introduced considerable penalties on the Russian two largest energy firms, Rosneft and Lukoil. This move significantly hindered the Russian leader's capacity to finance his war effort in the region.

Yet, via his newly presented 28-point peace initiative for the conflict, that was created by US and Russian officials without Ukraine's or EU input, he has clearly gone back to his pro-Putin position.

Benefiting Invasion

The former president's proposal would effectively reward the Russian leader for occupying a sovereign nation while putting the country's political freedom in danger. Although ringing statements that "The nation's sovereignty will be upheld", large portions of the proposal in reality undermine that essential autonomy. What represents a Kremlin dream would certainly be a catastrophe for the nation.

Reflecting his business background, the former president continues to treat the war as a basic territorial dispute, implying handing Putin a part of Ukraine's territory will please the ruler. But, Putin's war is not simply about occupying a damaged area of industrial-devastated territory in the Donbas region. Rather, it is about Ukraine's democracy – and Putin's apparent desire to eliminate it so it ceases to acts as an enticing standard for the Russia's population of the democratic governance that Putin's growing dictatorship withholds them.

Territorial Concessions

Although keeping in status the already separated oblasts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Trump's proposal would force the nation to give up the entire Donetsk province. Beyond rewarding Russia with area that its military have been unable to capture in exceeding a decade of warfare, this giveaway would leave Ukrainian military defenses dangerously undermined.

The area is the location of the nation's much-vaunted "defensive line", the well-established defensive positions that are a critical obstacle to Russian advances. The proposal would have Ukraine leave these defenses, leaving Russian forces a open route to the capital should he subsequently opt to restart the hostilities.

Armed Forces Limitations

Furthermore, in a move that would make future conflict simpler for the Russian military, the plan would mandate the nation to cut the numbers of its military from their current large number personnel to a maximum of 600,000. Notably, Trump's proposal imposes no equivalent limits on Russian forces.

Apparently as a concession to Russia's campaign to portray Ukraine's legitimate government as radicals, the proposal asserts: "All radical ideology and practices must be rejected and banned." Apparently to highlight this element, it demands that "Ukraine will hold political contests in this period" of a ceasefire agreement. However, Trump places no condition that Putin endanger his authoritarian rule by holding democratic processes in his own country.

Protection Guarantees

To be sure, the initiative makes Russia pledge not to "attack neighboring countries" and to "establish in law its position of non-violence towards the EU and the Ukrainian people". Yet given that the Russian leadership has broken equivalent treaties in the past – for example the 1994 Budapest memorandum, in which the Russian government committed to respect the nation's territorial integrity in exchange for giving up its former Soviet nuclear weapons, and the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements, in which Russia committed to a ceasefire and a restoration of seized land in the Donbas to Kyiv – for what reason should we have confidence in this commitment on this occasion?

For this reason Ukraine has been so insistent on international defense commitments. Although the proposal threatens a "immediate coordinated armed reaction" should the Russian Federation restart its invasion, and states that "Ukraine will receive dependable security guarantees", the particulars range from fuzzy to concerning. The proposal would not just block the nation alliance membership but also prohibit member states from stationing military personnel on the nation's land, effectively preventing the reassurance force, likely commanded by the UK and France, on which the Ukrainian government had been depending to deter Russia from restoring his reduced forces, restocking, and attacking again.

Global Concern

A separate supplementary accord apparently would provide the nation with a alliance-like security guarantee, in which any subsequent "significant, intentional, and continuous armed attack" by Russia on the country "shall be regarded as an assault endangering the tranquility of the allied countries." That suggests a military response. However unlike a capable Ukraine's armed forces – Ukraine's most reliable protection against renewed hostilities – the effectiveness of the supplementary deal would rely on the commitment of Western powers, like Trump, to react with force to Russia's aggression, something they have {not