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For a brief period, the former US president seemed to embrace a strong position on Ukraine. Following making statements of "significant ramifications" during the summer in case Vladimir Putin persisted obstructing peace talks, Trump ultimately imposed substantial restrictions on Russia's two largest energy firms, Lukoil and Rosneft. This move significantly impacted the Russian leader's capability to support his military invasion in Ukraine.

Yet, through his newly presented detailed peace initiative for Ukraine, which was developed by US and Russian representatives lacking Ukraine's or European involvement, Trump has clearly reverted to his pro-Putin position.

Rewarding Aggression

The former president's proposal would effectively benefit the Russian leader for invading a sovereign nation while putting the country's democratic system in peril. Despite ringing declarations that "The nation's sovereignty will be affirmed", significant aspects of the plan in reality compromise that very independence. This constitutes a Kremlin dream would certainly be a disaster for Ukraine.

Demonstrating his corporate background, the former president seems to treat the war as a simple territorial dispute, as if handing Putin a portion of Ukraine's land will please the leader. However, Putin's invasion is not simply about occupying a charred swath of industrial-devastated territory in the Donbas region. It is about Ukraine's democratic governance – and Putin's obvious intention to eliminate it so it ceases to serves as an attractive example for the Russian people of the accountable leadership that his deepening autocracy denies them.

Territorial Surrenders

Although keeping in place the already divided regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the proposal would require Ukraine to give up the whole Donetsk province. In addition to benefiting the Russian Federation with territory that its troops have been unsuccessful to seize in over a decade of conflict, this concession would render Ukraine's defensive positions dangerously undermined.

Donetsk is the location of the nation's highly-touted "stronghold system", the well-established defensive positions that represent a critical obstacle to enemy progress. The proposal would have the Ukrainian military leave these positions, leaving Putin a unobstructed way to the capital in case he later choose to resume the hostilities.

Armed Forces Restrictions

Then, in a step that would facilitate renewed conflict easier for the Russian military, the plan would mandate Ukraine to reduce the size of its armed forces from their present approximately 800,000 soldiers to a limit of this lower number. Notably, Trump's proposal imposes no such restrictions on the invading army.

Seemingly as a gesture to Putin's efforts to depict Ukraine's chosen by the people leadership as extremists, Trump's plan states: "All extremist belief system and practices must be condemned and forbidden." Apparently to emphasize this element, it demands that "Ukraine will hold democratic votes in three months" of a truce. However, Trump imposes no obligation that Putin jeopardize his authoritarian rule by allowing democratic processes in Russia.

Protection Assurances

Admittedly, the proposal makes Russia commit not to "enter other states" and to "establish in legislation its position of non-violence towards European nations and Ukraine". However considering that the Russian leadership has violated comparable accords in the previous instances – including the 1994 agreement, in which Russia pledged to recognize Ukraine's borders in exchange for surrendering its former Soviet nuclear arsenal, and the previous peace deals, in which Russia promised to a truce and a return of seized territory in the region to the government – for what reason should we trust Russia now?

For this reason the Ukrainian government has been so insistent on external protection assurances. While the plan warns of a "strong joint military response" should the Russian Federation renew its invasion, and provides that "The nation will receive strong security guarantees", the particulars range from unclear to troubling. The initiative would not only block the nation Nato membership but also prohibit alliance nations from deploying forces on Ukraine's soil, thereby blocking the peacekeeping contingent, reportedly commanded by the UK and France, on which Ukraine had been counting to prevent Russia from rebuilding his diminished forces, re-equipping, and resuming aggression.

World Concern

An additional parallel deal according to sources would offer the nation with a Nato-style security guarantee, in which any later "major, intentional, and continuous military assault" by Russia on Ukraine "shall be regarded as an attack endangering the peace and security of the Western nations." That suggests a armed reaction. But different from a capable Ukrainian military – the nation's most reliable defense against future hostilities – the credibility of the side agreement would rely on the dedication of Western powers, like the US administration, to act with force to Putin's aggression, an action they have {not