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At first, Donald Trump appeared to embrace a resolute approach regarding Ukraine. Following making warnings of "serious consequences" in August if Putin continued obstructing ceasefire talks, Trump ultimately introduced substantial sanctions on Russia's biggest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft. This decision substantially affected the Russian leader's ability to finance his military invasion in the region.

Yet, via his recently unveiled 28-point peace proposal for the conflict, reportedly drafted by both nations' representatives lacking Ukrainian or EU participation, Trump has apparently reverted to his Russia-friendly stance.

Benefiting Invasion

The former president's plan would in practice reward the Russian leader for attacking a sovereign nation while placing the country's democracy in jeopardy. Despite ringing proclamations that "Ukraine's autonomy will be upheld", large portions of the initiative in reality undermine that essential sovereignty. What represents a Russian ideal would certainly be a disaster for Ukraine.

Showing his business experience, the former president seems to view the war as a simple land disagreement, as if handing Putin a part of Ukraine's land will satisfy the ruler. Yet, Putin's war is not simply about controlling a destroyed swath of deindustrialized land in eastern Ukraine. It is about the nation's political system – and Putin's clear desire to destroy it so it stops acts as an enticing standard for the Russian people of the accountable leadership that Putin's increasing authoritarian rule denies them.

Territorial Giveaways

While freezing in position the already separated Ukrainian provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Trump's proposal would require the nation to surrender all of Donetsk region. Beyond benefiting Russia with territory that its military have been unsuccessful to capture in more than a lengthy period of warfare, this surrender would render Ukraine's defensive positions severely weakened.

This region is the place of Ukraine's much-vaunted "stronghold system", the fortified protective structures that are a essential obstacle to enemy progress. The proposal would have the Ukrainian military surrender these fortifications, leaving Russian forces a clear way to Kyiv should he subsequently opt to restart the hostilities.

Military Restrictions

Then, in a step that would facilitate future conflict more feasible for Russia, Trump would force Ukraine to reduce the numbers of its military from their present approximately 800,000 personnel to a limit of six hundred thousand. Importantly, the proposal imposes no equivalent limits on Russian forces.

Seemingly as a gesture to Putin's attempts to depict the nation's legitimate government as radicals, Trump's plan declares: "All radical ideology and practices must be opposed and forbidden." As if to underscore this point, it requires that "The nation will hold democratic votes in 100 days" of a ceasefire agreement. However, the proposal places no requirement that the Russian leader risk his regime by conducting democratic processes in his own country.

Protection Assurances

Admittedly, the plan makes the Russian Federation promise not to "invade bordering nations" and to "enshrine in legislation its position of non-aggression towards the EU and the Ukrainian people". Yet taking into account that the Russian leadership has breached similar agreements in the previous instances – including the 1994 agreement, in which the Russian government pledged to respect the nation's borders in return for relinquishing its Soviet-era nuclear weapons, and the Minsk accords, in which Moscow agreed to a halt in fighting and a restoration of occupied territory in eastern Ukraine to Ukrainian control – for what reason should the international community trust Russia on this occasion?

That is why the Ukrainian government has been so determined on external security guarantees. Although the plan threatens a "strong coordinated military response" if the Russian Federation restart its military campaign, and provides that "Ukraine will receive reliable security guarantees", the details include fuzzy to concerning. The initiative would not only prevent the nation Nato membership but also preclude member states from deploying forces on Ukrainian territory, effectively precluding the peacekeeping contingent, reportedly commanded by European powers, on which Ukraine had been relying to stop Putin from restoring his diminished military, rearming, and resuming aggression.

World Concern

A separate supplementary accord according to sources would grant the nation with a similar to NATO protection assurance, in which any future "significant, intentional, and continuous military assault" by the Russian Federation on Ukraine "will be treated as an attack jeopardizing the stability and safety of the Western nations." This implies a defense action. However in contrast to a capable Ukrainian military – the nation's best defense against additional hostilities – the success of the parallel accord would depend on the dedication of Western powers, including Trump, to act through arms to Putin's attacks, a response they have {not