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Initially, the former US president gave the impression to embrace a strong approach regarding Ukraine. Following delivering warnings of "serious consequences" last August in case Russia's president continued hindering ceasefire negotiations, he finally imposed major penalties on Russia's primary energy firms, these major energy companies. This action significantly affected Putin's capability to finance his military invasion in the region.

Yet, with his latest 28-point peace initiative for Ukraine, that was created by American and Russian representatives lacking Ukrainian or EU input, the former president has seemingly returned to his Russia-friendly position.

Favoring Aggression

This plan would essentially favor Putin for attacking a sovereign nation while placing the country's democratic system in jeopardy. Although ringing proclamations that "The nation's autonomy will be confirmed", much of the initiative effectively compromise that very independence. What represents a Moscow's wish would certainly be a Ukrainian nightmare.

Reflecting his business experience, Trump persists to consider the Ukrainian conflict as a simple land disagreement, as if giving Russia a section of Ukrainian soil will satisfy the president. Yet, Putin's war is not merely about dominating a damaged swath of industrial-devastated land in eastern Ukraine. It is about the nation's democracy – and Putin's apparent goal to destroy it so it ceases to serves as an attractive model for the Russia's population of the responsible governance that his increasing dictatorship withholds them.

Land Surrenders

While keeping in place the already split oblasts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, Trump's plan would compel Ukraine to abandon the whole this eastern territory. Beyond favoring the Russian Federation with area that its forces have been unable to occupy in over a ten years of fighting, this giveaway would render Ukraine's defenses critically compromised.

This region is the location of Ukraine's highly-touted "stronghold system", the well-established protective structures that represent a critical barrier to Russian advances. The proposal would have Ukraine leave these fortifications, leaving Putin a clear route to Kyiv in case he subsequently opt to resume the hostilities.

Military Reductions

Additionally, in a step that would enable renewed hostilities simpler for Russia, the plan would require the nation to cut the size of its troops from their existing 800,000 to 850,000 troops to a cap of 600,000. Importantly, Trump's initiative places no such limits on Russian forces.

Seemingly as a accommodation to Russia's attempts to characterize Ukraine's chosen by the people government as radicals, the proposal asserts: "All Nazi belief system and actions must be rejected and prohibited." Seemingly to emphasize this element, it insists that "The nation will hold democratic votes in this period" of a truce. Meanwhile, Trump sets no condition that Putin risk his authoritarian rule by holding elections in his own country.

Defense Guarantees

To be sure, the proposal includes Russia promise not to "enter bordering nations" and to "enshrine in regulation its stance of peaceful relations towards Europe and the Ukrainian people". But considering that the Russian leadership has violated equivalent treaties in the previous instances – such as the 1994 agreement, in which Russia promised to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity in return for relinquishing its Soviet-era nuclear weapons, and the previous peace deals, in which Moscow committed to a truce and a handback of captured areas in eastern Ukraine to Kyiv – for what reason should anyone trust Russia now?

That is why Ukraine has been so adamant on international protection assurances. Although the plan warns of a "strong unified armed reaction" if the Russian Federation restart its invasion, and provides that "Ukraine will receive reliable protection assurances", the specifics include unclear to alarming. The initiative would not only block Ukraine Nato membership but also prohibit member states from stationing forces on Ukraine's soil, effectively preventing the peacekeeping contingent, presumptively led by Britain and France, on which the Ukrainian government had been relying to prevent Putin from restoring his diminished forces, re-equipping, and resuming aggression.

International Response

An additional side agreement apparently would grant the nation with a Nato-style protection assurance, in which any future "significant, deliberate, and continuous military assault" by the Russian Federation on Ukraine "shall be regarded as an act of war threatening the stability and safety of the Western nations." This indicates a armed reaction. However unlike a powerful Ukrainian military – Ukraine's primary protection against additional Russian aggression – the credibility of the parallel accord would hinge on the dedication of alliance members, like the US administration, to act with force to Putin's hostilities, something they have {not