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For a brief period, the former US president appeared to take a strong position on the Ukrainian conflict. After making warnings of "severe consequences" during the summer should Vladimir Putin carried on obstructing peace talks, Trump eventually enacted major sanctions on the Russian biggest petroleum corporations, Rosneft and Lukoil. This move significantly hindered Putin's ability to support his aggression in the region.

Yet, through his newly presented 28-point peace proposal for Ukraine, which was developed by American and Russian diplomats lacking Ukrainian or European input, the former president has apparently gone back to his Russia-friendly approach.

Favoring Invasion

Trump's plan would in practice reward the Russian leader for invading a sovereign nation while placing Ukraine's democracy in peril. Although bold proclamations that "The nation's sovereignty will be upheld", much of the initiative in reality compromise that very independence. What represents a Kremlin dream would certainly be a Ukrainian nightmare.

Reflecting his corporate background, Trump continues to treat the situation in Ukraine as a simple land disagreement, as if ceding Putin a section of Ukrainian soil will satisfy the ruler. However, Putin's invasion is not simply about dominating a destroyed region of economically weakened area in Ukraine's east. Instead, it's about Ukraine's democratic governance – and the Russian leader's obvious intention to destroy it so it no longer acts as an appealing model for the Russian people of the responsible governance that Putin's deepening autocracy prevents them.

Border Surrenders

Although keeping in status the already divided Ukrainian provinces of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the proposal would force the nation to give up all of Donetsk province. Aside from favoring Russia with land that its forces have been unable to seize in more than a ten years of warfare, this surrender would make Ukrainian defensive positions critically undermined.

The area is the site of the nation's highly-touted "stronghold system", the well-established military defenses that constitute a critical obstacle to invading forces. Trump would have the Ukrainian military leave these defenses, providing Putin a clear way to the capital should he later decide to resume the war.

Defense Restrictions

Furthermore, in a action that would facilitate additional fighting simpler for Russia, the plan would mandate the nation to diminish the numbers of its military from their current 800,000 to 850,000 personnel to a cap of 600,000. Notably, Trump's proposal places no similar constraints on the invading army.

In what appears as a accommodation to Putin's campaign to depict Ukraine's democratically elected government as extremists, Trump's plan asserts: "Every extremist belief system and activities must be rejected and banned." Apparently to highlight this point, it insists that "Ukraine will hold elections in three months" of a ceasefire agreement. However, Trump places no requirement that the Russian leader jeopardize his regime by conducting elections in Russia.

Defense Commitments

Admittedly, the proposal includes Russia pledge not to "enter bordering nations" and to "enshrine in legislation its stance of peaceful relations towards European nations and Ukraine". Yet considering that Putin has breached similar accords in the past – such as the Budapest accord, in which the Russian government committed to honor the nation's sovereignty in exchange for surrendering its former Soviet nuclear weapons, and the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements, in which Russia agreed to a truce and a restoration of seized areas in the region to the government – how should anyone trust Russia on this occasion?

This explains Ukraine has been so insistent on western protection assurances. Although the initiative promises a "strong coordinated military response" should the Russian Federation restart its invasion, and states that "The nation will receive strong security guarantees", the details range from fuzzy to alarming. The plan would not only deny the nation accession to NATO but also prohibit member states from positioning forces on the nation's land, thus preventing the reassurance force, likely commanded by the UK and France, on which Ukraine had been depending to deter Russia from replenishing his reduced military, re-equipping, and attacking again.

Global Response

An additional side agreement according to sources would provide Ukraine with a alliance-like protection assurance, in which any subsequent "major, deliberate, and continuous armed attack" by Russia on Ukraine "will be treated as an attack jeopardizing the peace and security of the allied countries." This indicates a military response. However in contrast to a strong Ukraine's armed forces – the nation's primary deterrent against additional Russian aggression – the credibility of the parallel accord would rely on the commitment of Western powers, like Trump, to react militarily to Putin's aggression, an action they have {not