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Initially, the former US president gave the impression to embrace a firm stance concerning the Ukrainian conflict. After making statements of "severe consequences" during the summer should Vladimir Putin continued hindering peace discussions, he finally imposed major sanctions on the Russian biggest energy firms, these major energy companies. This move significantly hindered Putin's ability to fund his aggression in Ukraine.

However, through his newly presented comprehensive peace proposal for Ukraine, reportedly developed by American and Russian officials without Ukraine's or European participation, the former president has seemingly reverted to his Russia-friendly stance.

Favoring Invasion

The former president's proposal would essentially benefit the Russian leader for invading a sovereign nation while putting the country's democracy in peril. Although ringing declarations that "The nation's autonomy will be upheld", significant aspects of the plan effectively compromise that very autonomy. This constitutes a Kremlin dream would certainly be a disaster for Ukraine.

Showing his real-estate experience, the former president continues to view the Ukrainian conflict as a mere territorial dispute, like ceding Putin a part of Ukrainian territory will satisfy the leader. However, Putin's invasion is not simply about controlling a destroyed region of economically weakened land in Ukraine's east. It is about Ukraine's democratic governance – and Putin's obvious desire to eliminate it so it no longer acts as an enticing model for the Russia's population of the responsible government that his growing dictatorship prevents them.

Land Surrenders

Although freezing in place the currently split Ukrainian provinces of these areas, the plan would compel the nation to give up the entire Donetsk province. Aside from rewarding Russia with land that its troops have been unsuccessful to occupy in more than a ten years of fighting, this concession would leave Ukraine's military defenses severely undermined.

Donetsk is the site of the nation's well-known "defensive line", the entrenched defensive positions that represent a essential barrier to Russian advances. The proposal would have the Ukrainian military leave these defenses, leaving Putin a open path to the capital in case he later choose to resume the war.

Armed Forces Limitations

Furthermore, in a move that would enable renewed hostilities simpler for Russia, Trump would mandate Ukraine to cut the scale of its troops from their existing 800,000 to 850,000 soldiers to a limit of 600,000. Significantly, Trump's plan imposes no such limits on Russia's military.

Seemingly as a concession to Putin's attempts to portray the nation's legitimate administration as radicals, Trump's proposal declares: "All Nazi belief system and actions must be opposed and banned." Apparently to emphasize this element, it demands that "Ukraine will hold elections in this period" of a peace deal. At the same time, the proposal sets no obligation that Putin risk his regime by allowing democratic processes in his own country.

Security Guarantees

Certainly, the plan makes Russia commit not to "attack neighboring countries" and to "incorporate in law its stance of non-aggression towards Europe and the Ukrainian people". Yet taking into account that Putin has broken equivalent accords in the previous instances – for example the Budapest accord, in which Russia committed to recognize the nation's borders in exchange for giving up its former Soviet nuclear weapons, and the previous peace deals, in which Russia agreed to a truce and a return of occupied areas in the Donbas to Kyiv – for what reason should anyone have confidence in this commitment on this occasion?

This explains the Ukrainian government has been so adamant on international security guarantees. While the proposal warns of a "strong unified military response" in case Russia renew its aggression, and provides that "The nation will receive strong security guarantees", the particulars range from vague to alarming. The initiative would not only block Ukraine accession to NATO but also prevent alliance nations from positioning forces on Ukraine's soil, thus preventing the security presence, presumptively led by the UK and France, on which the Ukrainian government had been depending to deter Russia from rebuilding his diminished troops, rearming, and reinvading.

Global Concern

A separate supplementary accord apparently would grant the nation with a alliance-like security guarantee, in which any subsequent "serious, intentional, and sustained aggression" by Russia on the country "would be considered as an act of war endangering the peace and security of the allied countries." This implies a military response. Yet unlike a capable Ukraine's armed forces – Ukraine's best deterrent against additional hostilities – the success of the side agreement would depend on the willingness of alliance members, like the US administration, to react militarily to Russia's aggression, something they have {not