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For a brief period, Donald Trump gave the impression to adopt a firm position regarding Ukraine. After issuing warnings of "severe ramifications" last August if Russia's president persisted blocking ceasefire talks, he finally imposed substantial sanctions on Russia's biggest energy firms, Rosneft and Lukoil. This move seriously impacted the Russian leader's ability to fund his aggression in Ukraine.

Yet, via his recently unveiled comprehensive peace proposal for the conflict, which was created by American and Russian diplomats excluding Ukrainian or EU involvement, the former president has seemingly gone back to his pro-Putin position.

Rewarding Aggression

Trump's proposal would effectively favor Putin for invading a sovereign nation while placing the country's democratic system in danger. Despite bold proclamations that "The nation's sovereignty will be confirmed", much of the proposal effectively weaken that same sovereignty. What represents a Kremlin dream would probably be a catastrophe for the nation.

Showing his corporate background, the former president persists to treat the Ukrainian conflict as a mere border issue, like ceding Putin a part of Ukrainian land will please the ruler. But, Russia's military campaign is not only about occupying a charred area of industrial-devastated land in eastern Ukraine. It is about the nation's democracy – and Putin's obvious goal to eliminate it so it ceases to serves as an attractive example for the Russian people of the democratic governance that Putin's growing dictatorship withholds them.

Border Surrenders

While keeping in position the currently separated regions of these areas, Trump's proposal would compel the nation to surrender all of this eastern territory. Beyond rewarding the Russian Federation with area that its military have been failed to occupy in exceeding a lengthy period of warfare, this concession would leave Ukraine's military defenses dangerously weakened.

Donetsk is the place of Ukraine's well-known "stronghold system", the well-established defensive positions that represent a critical obstacle to enemy progress. Trump would have Ukraine leave these defenses, leaving Putin a clear route to the capital should he eventually decide to restart the conflict.

Military Restrictions

Furthermore, in a action that would make renewed conflict easier for the Russian military, Trump would require the nation to diminish the size of its troops from their existing large number personnel to a cap of six hundred thousand. Notably, the proposal places no such limits on the invading army.

In what appears as a concession to Russia's efforts to depict Ukraine's legitimate leadership as Nazis, the proposal declares: "Every radical doctrine and practices must be condemned and forbidden." As if to highlight this point, it insists that "Ukraine will hold democratic votes in 100 days" of a ceasefire agreement. However, Trump imposes no condition that Putin jeopardize his regime by allowing votes in his own country.

Security Guarantees

To be sure, the proposal has Russia commit not to "invade neighboring countries" and to "establish in regulation its policy of non-aggression towards the EU and the Ukrainian people". However given that the Russian leadership has breached comparable agreements in the previous instances – such as the 1994 agreement, in which Russia pledged to recognize Ukraine's territorial integrity in return for giving up its historical nuclear weapons, and the Minsk accords, in which Russia promised to a halt in fighting and a restoration of occupied areas in the region to the government – how should the international community believe this commitment on this occasion?

This explains Ukraine has been so determined on external security guarantees. While the plan warns of a "strong joint military response" in case the Russian Federation renew its aggression, and includes that "The nation will receive reliable security guarantees", the specifics include fuzzy to alarming. The plan would not only deny Ukraine Nato membership but also prohibit Nato members from deploying troops on Ukraine's soil, effectively blocking the reassurance force, presumptively led by Britain and France, on which Ukraine had been depending to stop Putin from restoring his weakened troops, rearming, and reinvading.

World Response

An additional supplementary accord reportedly would offer the nation with a similar to NATO security guarantee, in which any future "significant, intentional, and sustained military assault" by Russia on Ukraine "shall be regarded as an assault endangering the stability and safety of the transatlantic community." This implies a defense action. But unlike a powerful Ukraine's armed forces – the nation's most reliable protection against additional Russian aggression – the effectiveness of the side agreement would rely on the commitment of Western powers, including Trump, to respond through arms to Putin's attacks, something they have {not