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Initially, Trump appeared to take a firm position on the Ukrainian conflict. After making statements of "serious ramifications" during the summer should Russia's president carried on hindering truce negotiations, the former president eventually introduced substantial penalties on Russia's primary energy firms, Lukoil and Rosneft. This decision substantially affected Putin's ability to support his military invasion in the region.

But, via his latest 28-point peace initiative for the conflict, that was drafted by American and Russian officials lacking Ukrainian or EU involvement, Trump has seemingly gone back to his Russia-friendly approach.

Favoring Invasion

The former president's proposal would essentially reward the Russian leader for invading Ukraine while putting the country's democratic system in danger. Although strong statements that "The nation's independence will be affirmed", large portions of the initiative actually compromise that very sovereignty. This constitutes a Moscow's wish would likely be a catastrophe for the nation.

Reflecting his corporate past, the former president seems to view the situation in Ukraine as a simple border issue, implying ceding Putin a section of Ukrainian soil will appease the president. However, Russia's military campaign is not simply about occupying a destroyed area of economically weakened land in the Donbas region. It is about the nation's democracy – and the Russian leader's clear goal to weaken it so it stops acts as an attractive standard for the Russian citizens of the democratic leadership that Putin's increasing authoritarian rule prevents them.

Territorial Giveaways

While maintaining in status the presently split regions of these areas, the proposal would require Ukraine to abandon the whole this eastern territory. Aside from benefiting Russia with territory that its troops have been unable to capture in exceeding a lengthy period of warfare, this surrender would render Ukraine's defensive positions critically compromised.

Donetsk is the place of the nation's much-vaunted "defensive line", the well-established defensive positions that constitute a essential obstacle to invading forces. Trump would have Ukraine surrender these fortifications, providing Putin a unobstructed path to the capital in case he later opt to resume the war.

Defense Limitations

Furthermore, in a step that would facilitate renewed conflict more feasible for Russia, Trump would mandate Ukraine to cut the numbers of its armed forces from their present 800,000 to 850,000 soldiers to a limit of six hundred thousand. Importantly, Trump's proposal imposes no similar limits on the invading army.

Apparently as a concession to Putin's attempts to depict Ukraine's democratically elected administration as extremists, Trump's plan asserts: "Every Nazi ideology and actions must be rejected and banned." Seemingly to highlight this aspect, it demands that "The nation will hold political contests in three months" of a truce. However, the proposal places no requirement that the Russian leader jeopardize his regime by conducting votes in his own country.

Protection Commitments

Certainly, the proposal makes Russia promise not to "invade bordering nations" and to "establish in regulation its policy of peaceful relations towards European nations and the Ukrainian people". However taking into account that Putin has violated similar agreements in the past – such as the 1994 Budapest memorandum, in which Russia committed to honor Ukraine's borders in exchange for relinquishing its former Soviet nuclear weapons, and the Minsk accords, in which Russia committed to a halt in fighting and a return of occupied territory in the region to the government – for what reason should the international community trust Putin now?

For this reason Ukraine has been so determined on western protection assurances. Although the plan threatens a "strong joint armed reaction" if Russia renew its military campaign, and includes that "Ukraine will receive dependable defense commitments", the specifics include fuzzy to alarming. The proposal would not just prevent Ukraine Nato membership but also prevent Nato members from positioning troops on the nation's land, thus precluding the reassurance force, likely headed by the UK and France, on which Ukraine had been counting to prevent Putin from replenishing his weakened forces, re-equipping, and attacking again.

Global Response

Another supplementary accord apparently would grant Ukraine with a Nato-style protection assurance, in which any subsequent "serious, planned, and continuous military assault" by the Russian Federation on Ukraine "will be treated as an attack endangering the stability and safety of the Western nations." This indicates a defense action. Yet different from a strong Ukrainian military – Ukraine's best defense against additional Russian aggression – the success of the side agreement would rely on the dedication of Nato leaders, including the US administration, to act through arms to Russia's attacks, something they have {not