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For a brief period, Donald Trump gave the impression to adopt a firm position on the Ukrainian conflict. Following delivering threats of "severe consequences" in August should Putin continued blocking peace discussions, he ultimately imposed considerable penalties on the Russian biggest petroleum corporations, these major energy companies. This move substantially affected the Russian leader's capability to finance his war effort in the region.

However, via his latest 28-point peace plan for the conflict, reportedly created by American and Russian diplomats without Ukraine's or European participation, he has apparently returned to his favorable to Russia approach.

Benefiting Military Action

The former president's plan would in practice reward Putin for attacking Ukraine while putting the country's political freedom in danger. Despite strong statements that "The nation's sovereignty will be upheld", significant aspects of the plan effectively weaken that essential autonomy. Seen as a Moscow's wish would certainly be a catastrophe for the nation.

Demonstrating his corporate background, the former president persists to treat the situation in Ukraine as a simple territorial dispute, like giving Russia a part of Ukrainian territory will appease the leader. However, Russia's invasion is not simply about controlling a damaged region of economically weakened land in Ukraine's east. Rather, it is about the nation's democracy – and the Russian leader's clear goal to destroy it so it stops functions as an attractive example for the Russian citizens of the responsible government that his deepening authoritarian rule withholds them.

Territorial Giveaways

While keeping in position the already separated Ukrainian provinces of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, Trump's initiative would compel the nation to surrender all of this eastern territory. In addition to favoring the Russian Federation with territory that its troops have been unsuccessful to capture in exceeding a decade of warfare, this concession would leave Ukrainian defensive positions severely weakened.

Donetsk is the site of the nation's well-known "fortress belt", the entrenched protective structures that represent a critical impediment to Russian advances. The proposal would have the Ukrainian military abandon these fortifications, giving Russian forces a unobstructed path to Kyiv should he later choose to restart the war.

Armed Forces Limitations

Then, in a action that would enable future hostilities more feasible for Russia, Trump would force the nation to cut the numbers of its military from their present 800,000 to 850,000 soldiers to a cap of six hundred thousand. Significantly, the plan sets no equivalent restrictions on Russian forces.

Apparently as a concession to Putin's efforts to characterize Ukraine's legitimate leadership as extremists, the plan states: "Every radical ideology and activities must be condemned and prohibited." Apparently to underscore this element, it insists that "Ukraine will hold elections in three months" of a ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, the proposal places no condition that the Russian leader endanger his dictatorship by allowing democratic processes in his own country.

Security Commitments

Admittedly, the proposal includes the Russian Federation commit not to "attack bordering nations" and to "incorporate in legislation its position of peaceful relations towards Europe and the Ukrainian people". Yet given that Putin has violated comparable agreements in the previous instances – for example the Budapest accord, in which the Russian government committed to honor Ukraine's territorial integrity in return for relinquishing its former Soviet nuclear arsenal, and the previous peace deals, in which Moscow agreed to a halt in fighting and a handback of seized territory in eastern Ukraine to Kyiv – how should the international community trust Russia now?

That is why the Ukrainian government has been so insistent on western security guarantees. While the plan threatens a "strong unified defense action" if Russia resume its aggression, and provides that "The nation will receive dependable protection assurances", the particulars include vague to concerning. The proposal would not only block the nation alliance membership but also prevent alliance nations from deploying forces on Ukraine's soil, thereby preventing the reassurance force, presumptively headed by Britain and France, on which the Ukrainian government had been relying to stop Putin from replenishing his reduced forces, rearming, and attacking again.

World Reaction

A separate supplementary accord according to sources would provide the nation with a Nato-style defense commitment, in which any later "serious, intentional, and ongoing armed attack" by the Russian Federation on the country "shall be regarded as an assault jeopardizing the tranquility of the Western nations." That suggests a defense action. But different from a capable Ukraine's armed forces – the nation's best defense against additional invasion – the success of the supplementary deal would hinge on the dedication of Nato leaders, such as Trump, to react with force to Russia's hostilities, something they have {not