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For a brief period, Donald Trump seemed to take a resolute stance regarding Ukraine. After issuing threats of "serious repercussions" last August if Putin continued obstructing truce negotiations, he finally enacted considerable penalties on Russia's primary energy firms, Rosneft and Lukoil. This move substantially impacted Putin's ability to finance his military invasion in the region.

Yet, through his latest 28-point peace proposal for Ukraine, which was developed by both nations' officials excluding Ukrainian or European participation, the former president has seemingly gone back to his Russia-friendly stance.

Rewarding Invasion

This initiative would essentially favor the Russian leader for occupying Ukraine while putting Ukraine's political freedom in peril. Although strong declarations that "Ukraine's independence will be confirmed", much of the plan in reality compromise that essential sovereignty. Seen as a Kremlin dream would likely be a disaster for Ukraine.

Reflecting his corporate past, Trump persists to treat the situation in Ukraine as a simple border issue, like giving Putin a portion of Ukrainian territory will appease the president. But, Russia's war is not only about controlling a charred area of economically weakened territory in Ukraine's east. Instead, it's about Ukraine's democratic governance – and the Russian leader's clear desire to destroy it so it no longer functions as an appealing example for the Russian citizens of the accountable leadership that his deepening autocracy prevents them.

Territorial Concessions

While keeping in position the presently divided Ukrainian provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the plan would compel the nation to surrender all of this eastern territory. Aside from rewarding Russia with territory that its military have been failed to seize in exceeding a decade of warfare, this giveaway would render Ukraine's defenses severely weakened.

This region is the site of the nation's highly-touted "defensive line", the fortified defensive positions that are a essential obstacle to invading forces. Trump would have the Ukrainian military leave these defenses, providing Russian forces a unobstructed path to the capital if he eventually decide to resume the conflict.

Defense Limitations

Additionally, in a move that would facilitate renewed hostilities simpler for the Russian military, Trump would force Ukraine to cut the size of its troops from their current large number soldiers to a limit of six hundred thousand. Notably, Trump's proposal imposes no similar restrictions on Russian forces.

Seemingly as a concession to Russia's attempts to depict Ukraine's democratically elected administration as Nazis, Trump's plan asserts: "Any radical doctrine and practices must be opposed and prohibited." As if to highlight this point, it insists that "Ukraine will hold democratic votes in this period" of a ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, Trump sets no condition that the Russian leader risk his regime by allowing elections in his own country.

Defense Guarantees

Certainly, the plan includes the Russian Federation pledge not to "attack bordering nations" and to "enshrine in regulation its position of non-violence towards European nations and the Ukrainian people". However considering that the Russian leadership has violated comparable agreements in the past – including the 1994 agreement, in which Russia pledged to honor the nation's sovereignty in return for relinquishing its former Soviet atomic arms, and the Minsk accords, in which Russia committed to a halt in fighting and a handback of occupied land in the Donbas to Kyiv – how should the international community believe Putin this time?

That is why the Ukrainian government has been so adamant on western protection assurances. Although the proposal threatens a "strong coordinated military response" in case Russia renew its aggression, and includes that "Ukraine will receive dependable security guarantees", the specifics range from vague to troubling. The proposal would not just prevent the nation Nato membership but also preclude member states from positioning military personnel on Ukrainian territory, thus blocking the security presence, presumptively headed by European powers, on which the Ukrainian government had been depending to prevent Russia from rebuilding his weakened military, restocking, and resuming aggression.

International Concern

Another side agreement according to sources would provide the nation with a alliance-like security guarantee, in which any subsequent "major, planned, and ongoing armed attack" by the Russian Federation on Ukraine "will be treated as an act of war jeopardizing the stability and safety of the transatlantic community." This implies a defense action. Yet unlike a strong national defense – Ukraine's best deterrent against renewed hostilities – the effectiveness of the parallel accord would depend on the dedication of Nato leaders, such as the US administration, to respond with force to Russia's hostilities, something they have {not