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At first, the former US president seemed to take a resolute position regarding the Ukrainian conflict. Following issuing warnings of "significant repercussions" last August should Russia's president carried on blocking truce negotiations, the former president ultimately enacted major penalties on the Russian primary energy firms, these major energy companies. This move substantially impacted the Russian leader's capability to support his aggression in Ukraine.

But, with his newly presented 28-point peace proposal for the conflict, which was drafted by American and Russian diplomats lacking Ukrainian or EU involvement, the former president has clearly gone back to his pro-Putin approach.

Favoring Invasion

The former president's plan would effectively favor Putin for occupying Ukraine while placing the country's democratic system in peril. Despite strong declarations that "Ukraine's autonomy will be confirmed", significant aspects of the plan in reality weaken that essential autonomy. This constitutes a Kremlin dream would probably be a disaster for Ukraine.

Reflecting his corporate experience, the former president persists to consider the situation in Ukraine as a mere border issue, implying ceding Russia a part of Ukraine's land will appease the leader. However, Russia's military campaign is not simply about occupying a destroyed region of deindustrialized land in Ukraine's east. Instead, it's about Ukraine's democracy – and Putin's apparent desire to weaken it so it no longer functions as an enticing model for the Russian people of the democratic government that his increasing autocracy prevents them.

Territorial Surrenders

Although keeping in place the presently divided regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, Trump's plan would compel the nation to abandon the whole this eastern territory. Aside from rewarding Russia with area that its military have been unable to seize in more than a decade of fighting, this concession would leave Ukraine's defenses critically compromised.

The area is the site of Ukraine's much-vaunted "fortress belt", the entrenched defensive positions that represent a critical impediment to invading forces. The proposal would have the Ukrainian military abandon these defenses, providing Putin a unobstructed path to the capital in case he eventually opt to resume the hostilities.

Military Restrictions

Then, in a action that would facilitate renewed conflict simpler for the Russian military, the plan would mandate the nation to cut the scale of its troops from their current 800,000 to 850,000 soldiers to a limit of this lower number. Importantly, Trump's plan imposes no such constraints on Russia's military.

Apparently as a concession to Russia's campaign to portray Ukraine's chosen by the people government as Nazis, Trump's plan asserts: "Any extremist ideology and practices must be rejected and forbidden." Seemingly to underscore this point, it demands that "Ukraine will hold political contests in three months" of a truce. At the same time, Trump sets no condition that the Russian leader risk his regime by holding elections in his own country.

Security Guarantees

Admittedly, the initiative makes the Russian Federation commit not to "attack neighboring countries" and to "enshrine in regulation its position of non-violence towards the EU and the Ukrainian people". However taking into account that the Russian leadership has violated similar accords in the past – including the 1994 Budapest memorandum, in which the Russian government pledged to honor Ukraine's borders in exchange for giving up its former Soviet atomic arms, and the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements, in which Russia promised to a ceasefire and a return of occupied areas in the region to Kyiv – why should anyone have confidence in Russia now?

That is why the Ukrainian government has been so insistent on western defense commitments. Although the plan warns of a "strong coordinated defense action" should Russia renew its military campaign, and states that "Ukraine will receive dependable security guarantees", the details include unclear to concerning. The plan would not just prevent the nation Nato membership but also preclude Nato members from deploying military personnel on Ukrainian territory, thereby blocking the peacekeeping contingent, presumptively commanded by the UK and France, on which the Ukrainian government had been counting to deter Russia from restoring his diminished troops, restocking, and reinvading.

Global Reaction

A separate supplementary accord reportedly would offer Ukraine with a similar to NATO security guarantee, in which any later "major, intentional, and continuous aggression" by the Russian Federation on the country "shall be regarded as an assault endangering the peace and security of the transatlantic community." That suggests a defense action. However different from a powerful Ukraine's armed forces – Ukraine's primary protection against additional invasion – the credibility of the parallel accord would hinge on the commitment of Nato leaders, including Trump, to respond with force to Putin's aggression, an action they have {not