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At first, the former US president gave the impression to embrace a firm position regarding the Ukrainian conflict. After issuing warnings of "severe repercussions" during the summer in case Russia's president continued hindering ceasefire discussions, Trump ultimately imposed substantial sanctions on the Russian primary oil companies, these major energy companies. This action significantly affected the Russian leader's capability to fund his aggression in the region.

However, through his newly presented detailed peace plan for the conflict, reportedly drafted by American and Russian representatives lacking Ukrainian or EU involvement, Trump has apparently gone back to his Russia-friendly stance.

Favoring Aggression

This proposal would in practice reward the Russian leader for invading Ukraine while leaving the country's democratic system in jeopardy. Although strong declarations that "Ukraine's independence will be confirmed", much of the plan actually undermine that same sovereignty. This constitutes a Kremlin dream would certainly be a disaster for Ukraine.

Demonstrating his real-estate background, the former president continues to consider the situation in Ukraine as a mere land disagreement, as if giving Russia a part of Ukraine's territory will please the ruler. However, Russia's military campaign is not merely about occupying a destroyed swath of industrial-devastated land in eastern Ukraine. Instead, it's about the nation's democracy – and the Russian leader's clear goal to destroy it so it no longer serves as an enticing standard for the Russian people of the responsible governance that his increasing authoritarian rule prevents them.

Land Surrenders

While maintaining in position the already separated oblasts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the plan would force Ukraine to abandon the entire Donetsk province. In addition to rewarding Russia with area that its troops have been unable to seize in exceeding a ten years of fighting, this surrender would leave Ukrainian military defenses critically compromised.

This region is the location of Ukraine's highly-touted "fortress belt", the fortified defensive positions that represent a essential impediment to invading forces. Trump would have Ukraine leave these fortifications, giving Russian forces a unobstructed path to the capital in case he later opt to resume the conflict.

Armed Forces Limitations

Furthermore, in a move that would enable additional hostilities simpler for Russia, the plan would mandate Ukraine to reduce the numbers of its troops from their present large number soldiers to a maximum of this lower number. Notably, the initiative imposes no such constraints on Russian forces.

Seemingly as a accommodation to Putin's efforts to depict Ukraine's democratically elected government as Nazis, the plan asserts: "Any radical belief system and activities must be rejected and prohibited." Apparently to underscore this aspect, it requires that "Ukraine will hold democratic votes in three months" of a peace deal. Meanwhile, Trump places no requirement that Putin jeopardize his regime by holding votes in his own country.

Security Assurances

Certainly, the proposal makes the Russian Federation commit not to "enter other states" and to "incorporate in law its stance of non-violence towards European nations and the Ukrainian people". However given that Putin has broken similar agreements in the past – for example the 1994 agreement, in which the Russian government promised to honor the nation's sovereignty in exchange for surrendering its former Soviet nuclear arsenal, and the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements, in which Moscow agreed to a halt in fighting and a handback of seized territory in the region to Ukrainian control – why should the international community trust this commitment this time?

For this reason the Ukrainian government has been so adamant on external protection assurances. While the plan threatens a "decisive coordinated armed reaction" in case Russia resume its military campaign, and includes that "The nation will receive reliable defense commitments", the specifics include unclear to troubling. The initiative would not just block Ukraine accession to NATO but also prevent alliance nations from positioning forces on the nation's land, thus blocking the reassurance force, presumptively headed by Britain and France, on which Ukraine had been counting to stop Putin from replenishing his weakened troops, rearming, and reinvading.

World Response

A separate supplementary accord according to sources would offer Ukraine with a Nato-style defense commitment, in which any subsequent "major, intentional, and continuous armed attack" by Russia on the country "would be considered as an attack jeopardizing the peace and security of the allied countries." This implies a defense action. Yet different from a strong Ukrainian military – the nation's most reliable defense against additional Russian aggression – the credibility of the parallel accord would rely on the dedication of Nato leaders, such as Trump, to respond militarily to Putin's hostilities, an action they have {not