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For a brief period, Donald Trump gave the impression to take a resolute position on the Ukrainian conflict. After making statements of "severe consequences" during the summer if Putin continued obstructing truce discussions, the former president ultimately enacted substantial restrictions on Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. This decision significantly hindered Putin's ability to fund his aggression in Ukraine.

Yet, with his latest 28-point peace proposal for Ukraine, that was created by both nations' diplomats lacking Ukraine's or European participation, Trump has apparently gone back to his favorable to Russia position.

Benefiting Aggression

This initiative would effectively benefit the Russian leader for occupying Ukraine while putting Ukraine's democratic system in peril. Despite bold statements that "The nation's autonomy will be upheld", much of the plan actually undermine that same autonomy. What represents a Russian ideal would probably be a Ukrainian nightmare.

Showing his real-estate past, Trump continues to treat the war as a mere border issue, implying giving Putin a portion of Ukraine's land will appease the leader. But, Putin's invasion is not only about occupying a damaged swath of economically weakened territory in the Donbas region. Instead, it's about the nation's democratic governance – and Putin's obvious desire to weaken it so it stops functions as an enticing example for the Russian people of the accountable government that his increasing autocracy denies them.

Territorial Surrenders

While maintaining in place the currently split regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the initiative would force Ukraine to give up all of Donetsk region. Beyond favoring the Russian Federation with area that its forces have been failed to occupy in exceeding a ten years of warfare, this surrender would render Ukraine's defensive positions critically compromised.

This region is the site of the nation's well-known "fortress belt", the entrenched defensive positions that constitute a key impediment to enemy progress. Trump would have the Ukrainian military surrender these fortifications, providing Russian forces a open way to Kyiv should he later decide to resume the conflict.

Defense Restrictions

Additionally, in a move that would enable future conflict more feasible for Russia, Trump would require Ukraine to cut the numbers of its troops from their current large number troops to a maximum of this lower number. Importantly, Trump's initiative places no such constraints on the invading army.

Seemingly as a concession to Putin's attempts to characterize the nation's democratically elected leadership as Nazis, Trump's plan states: "Any extremist ideology and activities must be condemned and banned." Seemingly to emphasize this aspect, it demands that "Ukraine will hold political contests in 100 days" of a ceasefire agreement. At the same time, Trump places no requirement that Putin jeopardize his authoritarian rule by conducting elections in Russia.

Defense Guarantees

Certainly, the plan makes Russia pledge not to "invade bordering nations" and to "enshrine in regulation its position of non-aggression towards Europe and Ukraine". However given that Putin has violated comparable agreements in the history – such as the 1994 agreement, in which the Russian government pledged to respect Ukraine's borders in return for surrendering its historical atomic arms, and the previous peace deals, in which Russia agreed to a halt in fighting and a return of captured areas in eastern Ukraine to Kyiv – for what reason should the international community trust this commitment on this occasion?

For this reason the Ukrainian government has been so adamant on international defense commitments. Although the initiative warns of a "strong coordinated military response" should Russia restart its military campaign, and includes that "The nation will receive strong protection assurances", the specifics vary from unclear to troubling. The plan would not only deny Ukraine accession to NATO but also preclude member states from stationing troops on Ukraine's soil, effectively preventing the security presence, likely led by Britain and France, on which the Ukrainian government had been depending to deter Putin from replenishing his reduced forces, re-equipping, and reinvading.

International Response

An additional supplementary accord apparently would provide the nation with a similar to NATO defense commitment, in which any later "significant, deliberate, and ongoing armed attack" by the Russian Federation on the country "will be treated as an act of war jeopardizing the stability and safety of the transatlantic community." This implies a armed reaction. But different from a powerful Ukrainian military – Ukraine's primary defense against future invasion – the success of the supplementary deal would rely on the willingness of Nato leaders, including the US administration, to react through arms to Russia's aggression, something they have {not