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For a brief period, the former US president gave the impression to take a resolute position on the Ukrainian conflict. Following making threats of "serious ramifications" during the summer in case Putin persisted obstructing ceasefire negotiations, he finally enacted considerable sanctions on Russia's biggest energy firms, Lukoil and Rosneft. This move seriously impacted the Russian leader's ability to fund his aggression in the region.

However, with his newly presented 28-point peace proposal for the conflict, that was created by US and Russian diplomats lacking Ukraine's or EU involvement, the former president has apparently reverted to his Russia-friendly stance.

Favoring Invasion

This initiative would essentially favor Putin for occupying Ukraine while putting the country's democratic system in peril. Although strong declarations that "Ukraine's sovereignty will be confirmed", significant aspects of the plan effectively undermine that essential sovereignty. Seen as a Moscow's wish would probably be a disaster for Ukraine.

Reflecting his real-estate experience, the former president seems to view the Ukrainian conflict as a simple territorial dispute, like handing Putin a portion of Ukraine's soil will appease the leader. But, Russia's invasion is not merely about occupying a damaged swath of deindustrialized territory in Ukraine's east. Rather, it is about the nation's democratic governance – and Putin's apparent desire to weaken it so it stops acts as an attractive example for the Russia's population of the responsible leadership that his growing autocracy denies them.

Border Concessions

Although maintaining in status the already divided Ukrainian provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Trump's initiative would require Ukraine to surrender the entire Donetsk region. Aside from favoring the Russian Federation with territory that its military have been failed to capture in more than a ten years of fighting, this giveaway would render Ukraine's defensive positions severely undermined.

Donetsk is the site of the nation's highly-touted "fortress belt", the well-established protective structures that represent a essential impediment to Russian advances. The proposal would have Ukraine abandon these positions, giving Putin a unobstructed way to Kyiv in case he eventually opt to restart the war.

Defense Reductions

Then, in a move that would enable additional hostilities simpler for the Russian military, the plan would mandate Ukraine to reduce the numbers of its military from their present large number troops to a maximum of this lower number. Importantly, Trump's initiative sets no similar limits on the invading army.

In what appears as a accommodation to Putin's attempts to depict the nation's chosen by the people administration as extremists, Trump's proposal asserts: "Any Nazi doctrine and actions must be condemned and banned." Seemingly to highlight this element, it insists that "Ukraine will hold political contests in this period" of a ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, Trump places no requirement that the Russian leader risk his regime by allowing democratic processes in his own country.

Protection Guarantees

Admittedly, the initiative has the Russian Federation commit not to "enter neighboring countries" and to "incorporate in legislation its position of peaceful relations towards Europe and the Ukrainian people". But considering that Putin has breached comparable treaties in the past – including the Budapest accord, in which Russia committed to recognize the nation's sovereignty in exchange for surrendering its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal, and the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements, in which Russia agreed to a ceasefire and a handback of occupied territory in the region to Ukrainian control – how should anyone trust Putin now?

This explains Ukraine has been so adamant on external security guarantees. Although the proposal threatens a "immediate joint armed reaction" in case the Russian Federation restart its invasion, and provides that "Ukraine will receive reliable security guarantees", the specifics include fuzzy to alarming. The initiative would not only prevent Ukraine alliance membership but also prevent alliance nations from positioning military personnel on Ukrainian territory, effectively blocking the reassurance force, presumptively headed by Britain and France, on which Ukraine had been depending to prevent Russia from restoring his diminished military, re-equipping, and resuming aggression.

World Concern

Another supplementary accord reportedly would grant the nation with a alliance-like security guarantee, in which any future "major, planned, and continuous armed attack" by the Russian Federation on Ukraine "will be treated as an assault threatening the tranquility of the allied countries." This indicates a armed reaction. But different from a capable national defense – Ukraine's primary protection against renewed invasion – the effectiveness of the parallel accord would rely on the dedication of alliance members, such as the US administration, to react militarily to Putin's attacks, a response they have {not