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For a brief period, the former US president gave the impression to embrace a strong approach on the Ukrainian conflict. Following making warnings of "significant consequences" in August if Russia's president continued obstructing peace talks, the former president finally enacted major penalties on the Russian biggest petroleum corporations, these major energy companies. This action seriously affected the Russian leader's capacity to support his military invasion in Ukraine.

Yet, through his newly presented 28-point peace initiative for the conflict, reportedly drafted by both nations' officials without Ukrainian or EU involvement, he has apparently reverted to his favorable to Russia position.

Benefiting Aggression

Trump's proposal would essentially favor the Russian leader for invading Ukraine while placing Ukraine's democracy in danger. Although strong statements that "The nation's autonomy will be affirmed", large portions of the plan effectively compromise that essential autonomy. What represents a Kremlin dream would likely be a Ukrainian nightmare.

Demonstrating his corporate experience, the former president continues to consider the Ukrainian conflict as a mere territorial dispute, like handing Putin a section of Ukraine's soil will satisfy the ruler. Yet, Putin's invasion is not merely about dominating a damaged area of deindustrialized land in the Donbas region. Instead, it's about Ukraine's democracy – and Putin's apparent goal to weaken it so it stops serves as an appealing standard for the Russia's population of the responsible government that Putin's growing autocracy denies them.

Territorial Giveaways

While keeping in position the currently separated regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the initiative would compel Ukraine to surrender all of this eastern territory. Beyond favoring the Russian Federation with territory that its troops have been failed to capture in more than a lengthy period of warfare, this giveaway would make Ukrainian defenses dangerously undermined.

Donetsk is the place of Ukraine's much-vaunted "fortress belt", the entrenched protective structures that are a key impediment to enemy progress. Trump would have the Ukrainian military leave these positions, leaving Russian forces a unobstructed route to the capital if he subsequently opt to resume the hostilities.

Military Restrictions

Furthermore, in a step that would enable additional conflict more feasible for Russia, Trump would force Ukraine to diminish the scale of its military from their present approximately 800,000 troops to a cap of six hundred thousand. Significantly, the initiative imposes no similar constraints on Russia's military.

Seemingly as a gesture to Putin's campaign to portray the nation's legitimate government as extremists, the plan declares: "Any radical belief system and actions must be condemned and prohibited." As if to underscore this point, it demands that "Ukraine will hold democratic votes in 100 days" of a peace deal. However, Trump places no requirement that Putin risk his dictatorship by conducting democratic processes in Russia.

Defense Commitments

Certainly, the proposal has Russia pledge not to "enter bordering nations" and to "enshrine in regulation its position of non-violence towards the EU and Ukraine". But given that the Russian leadership has broken similar treaties in the past – including the 1994 agreement, in which the Russian government promised to honor the nation's sovereignty in return for surrendering its Soviet-era atomic arms, and the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements, in which Russia agreed to a ceasefire and a handback of captured territory in eastern Ukraine to Ukrainian control – for what reason should anyone trust Russia now?

For this reason Ukraine has been so adamant on external defense commitments. While the plan promises a "strong coordinated military response" in case Russia renew its military campaign, and states that "Ukraine will receive dependable protection assurances", the specifics vary from unclear to alarming. The proposal would not just prevent the nation Nato membership but also prevent Nato members from deploying forces on Ukraine's soil, thereby blocking the security presence, reportedly led by the UK and France, on which Ukraine had been counting to deter Russia from rebuilding his reduced military, restocking, and reinvading.

Global Response

A separate supplementary accord reportedly would provide Ukraine with a Nato-style defense commitment, in which any future "significant, planned, and continuous military assault" by the Russian Federation on the country "shall be regarded as an attack threatening the peace and security of the transatlantic community." This indicates a armed reaction. However in contrast to a powerful national defense – Ukraine's primary defense against additional hostilities – the success of the side agreement would depend on the dedication of alliance members, including Trump, to respond militarily to Putin's hostilities, something they have {not