"For a moment, Donald Trump seemed to have seen the light on Ukraine. After promising severe consequences in August if Vladimir Putin continued to obstruct ceasefire talks but then doing nothing as Putin did just that Trump finally on 22 October imposed significant sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, seriously compromising Putin's ability to finance his invasion."
"But now, with his 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, drafted by US and Russian officials without Ukrainian or European participation, Trump has reverted to his pro-Putin norm. Trump's plan would reward Putin for invading Ukraine while leaving Ukraine's democracy in jeopardy. The plan's ringing proclamation that Ukraine's sovereignty will be confirmed rings hollow when so much of the plan compromises that sovereignty."
"While freezing in place the divided Ukrainian provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Trump's plan would force Ukraine to abandon all of Donetsk province. Beyond rewarding Russia with territory that its forces have been unable to seize in more than a decade of fighting, this surrender would leave Ukrainian defenses perilously weakened. Donetsk is the location of Ukraine's much-vaunted fortress belt, the entrenched defensive positions that are a key obstacle to Russian advances."
After imposing sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil on 22 October that compromised Putin's invasion financing, Trump later proposed a 28-point peace plan drafted by US and Russian officials without Ukrainian or European participation. The plan would reward Putin for invading Ukraine while jeopardizing Ukraine's democracy and sovereignty by conceding territory. It freezes Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as divided provinces and forces Ukraine to abandon all of Donetsk, surrendering key fortress-belt defenses. Abandoning Donetsk would leave Ukrainian defenses perilously weakened and create a clear path to Kyiv should Putin resume the war. The plan treats the conflict as a territorial dispute rather than an attack on democratic governance.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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