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For a brief period, the former US president appeared to take a strong stance on the Ukrainian conflict. After delivering statements of "significant repercussions" during the summer in case Putin continued blocking ceasefire talks, he finally imposed major sanctions on the Russian biggest energy firms, Rosneft and Lukoil. This move significantly hindered Putin's ability to support his aggression in the region.

Yet, with his newly presented detailed peace initiative for the conflict, that was developed by US and Russian officials without Ukraine's or EU involvement, Trump has apparently gone back to his Russia-friendly position.

Rewarding Invasion

The former president's initiative would essentially favor the Russian leader for invading a sovereign nation while leaving the country's democratic system in jeopardy. Although ringing proclamations that "Ukraine's autonomy will be confirmed", large portions of the plan actually compromise that essential sovereignty. What represents a Kremlin dream would certainly be a disaster for Ukraine.

Showing his real-estate experience, the former president continues to treat the war as a mere land disagreement, as if handing Russia a part of Ukrainian land will please the ruler. However, Putin's military campaign is not merely about occupying a damaged region of deindustrialized area in eastern Ukraine. It is about Ukraine's political system – and Putin's clear intention to destroy it so it stops serves as an appealing model for the Russia's population of the democratic leadership that his deepening dictatorship denies them.

Border Concessions

Although maintaining in position the presently divided regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the proposal would compel Ukraine to give up the whole Donetsk region. In addition to rewarding the Russian Federation with land that its troops have been unsuccessful to capture in over a ten years of fighting, this concession would render Ukraine's defenses critically weakened.

This region is the place of the nation's much-vaunted "stronghold system", the well-established protective structures that constitute a critical barrier to enemy progress. The proposal would have Ukraine abandon these positions, giving Russian forces a open path to Kyiv in case he eventually decide to renew the conflict.

Military Restrictions

Then, in a move that would facilitate future fighting more feasible for Russia, the plan would force the nation to diminish the numbers of its troops from their present 800,000 to 850,000 soldiers to a maximum of this lower number. Importantly, Trump's initiative imposes no such restrictions on the invading army.

In what appears as a accommodation to Russia's campaign to depict the nation's legitimate leadership as Nazis, the plan declares: "All Nazi belief system and practices must be opposed and prohibited." As if to emphasize this point, it demands that "The nation will hold democratic votes in three months" of a ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, the proposal places no requirement that the Russian leader jeopardize his authoritarian rule by conducting votes in Russia.

Security Commitments

Certainly, the proposal includes Russia commit not to "enter other states" and to "incorporate in legislation its policy of non-aggression towards Europe and Ukraine". But considering that the Russian leadership has violated similar accords in the previous instances – such as the Budapest accord, in which Russia promised to honor Ukraine's sovereignty in exchange for surrendering its former Soviet nuclear arsenal, and the Minsk accords, in which Russia agreed to a halt in fighting and a return of captured territory in eastern Ukraine to the government – how should anyone trust Putin this time?

This explains Ukraine has been so determined on international protection assurances. Although the plan threatens a "strong joint military response" should the Russian Federation renew its invasion, and provides that "The nation will receive reliable defense commitments", the details include fuzzy to concerning. The initiative would not just block the nation alliance membership but also preclude alliance nations from stationing forces on Ukrainian territory, effectively blocking the security presence, likely commanded by Britain and France, on which Ukraine had been depending to deter Russia from replenishing his weakened military, rearming, and attacking again.

World Reaction

A separate parallel deal reportedly would provide the nation with a alliance-like security guarantee, in which any subsequent "serious, deliberate, and sustained military assault" by the Russian Federation on Ukraine "would be considered as an assault endangering the tranquility of the transatlantic community." This implies a military response. But in contrast to a capable national defense – the nation's best defense against renewed invasion – the credibility of the side agreement would hinge on the willingness of Nato leaders, including the US administration, to respond militarily to Russia's aggression, a response they have {not