Trump Is Once Again Acting as Putin’s Agent

And that pivot does not serve American national interests.

I admit I made a mistake. I thought President Trump had finally realized that placating Vladimir Putin had not served either American national interests or his own reputation. The details of a new “peace plan” for Ukraine, endorsed by Trump and his team, confirm that I was wrong in this assessment. Trump has once again shunned the role of neutral mediator and is again taking Russia’s side. This pivot back to the old, pro-Putin Trump is bad for Ukraine, bad for Europe, and bad for the United States.

As my readers know, I have written and commented critically about President Trump’s embrace of Vladimir Putin for over a decade. During his first presidential campaign, Trump went out of his way to praise the Russian dictator. This enthusiasm for Putin continued throughout his first term, including a shocking moment at their summit in Helsinki in 2018 when Trump sided with Putin against his own intelligence community, falsely claiming there had been no Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Incidentally, it was in Helsinki that Trump volunteered to hand me over to Moscow for interrogation regarding crimes I allegedly committed against Russia while working at the National Security Council! Read about it here.) At the beginning of his second term, Trump continued to praise and support Putin. Most embarrassingly, the United States under Trump joined Russia, North Korea, Belarus, and a bunch of other rogue nations in voting against a UN resolution criticizing Russia for invading Ukraine. Even China abstained.

More recently, however, there were signs that Trump was beginning to understand Putin. After Trump and his aides offered Putin all sorts of concessions to end his war in Ukraine, Putin just asked for more. Trump seemed frustrated by that. In April, Trump questioned in a Truth Social post whether Putin was “tapping me along.” Putin was. Most encouragingly, in October—for the first time in 2025—the Trump administration finally implemented new sanctions on two Russian oil companies. I thought optimistically that Trump might be changing his mind about Putin.

The publication this week of a so-called new “peace plan” has undermined that optimism. Trump and his team are right back to appeasing Putin and undermining Ukrainian sovereignty. This reversal is dramatic and tragic.

Ukrainian and Western leaders had no say in the drafting of the plan, which requires extreme concessions from Kyiv and demands nothing from Moscow. It is not a “peace plan.” It is a Russian proposal for Ukrainian capitulation endorsed by the Trump administration. Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev reportedly leaked the plan to the American press to tie Trump’s hands. (I hope the president and his aides realize what a sinister move this was by Dmitriev.)

There is little new in the plan. The proposal simply repeats all of Putin’s maximalist demands from years ago. Most outrageously, this new Russian plan calls on Ukraine yet again to abandon territory still held by its soldiers in Donbas. Putin has been trying to seize this area of eastern Ukraine since 2014; it seems he has now given up on his soldiers and is just asking Trump to hand it over to him. Equally egregious are the provisions in the plan that place limits on Ukraine’s sovereignty, including caps on the size of the army and a prohibition on joining NATO. Most arrogantly, the proposal states that Ukraine will be “eligible” to join the European Union—as if Russia had any say in this matter. Trump apparently also decided unilaterally to speak on behalf of the other G-7 countries – all of which are democratic allies of the United States—when agreeing in this document to invite Russia to rejoin what would become the G-8. And, of course, in a pattern now consistent with other Trump-backed deals, the plan offers all sorts of ways for Americans to make money. One bullet point even describes how “$100 billion in frozen Russian assets will be invested in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine,” with the important caveat that the US “will receive 50% of the profits”! Finally, there is nothing in this document identifying Russia as the instigator of this barbaric war.

A Trump-led pressure campaign on Zelenskyy to accept this deal—the Ukrainians reportedly have only until Thursday to say yes—will not advance American national interests. Here’s why:

First, this Russian plan rewards imperialism and acknowledges annexation. Acquiescing to such an agreement will not produce long-lasting peace but only result in a temporary pause in Putin’s aggression, much like that which followed Putin’s first attack on Ukraine in 2014. And an emboldened Putin will escalate his threats to our NATO allies in Europe. Just as appeasement in the run-up to World War II eventually resulted in large-scale war, the same tactics could produce more conflict, not less—again in Europe, and in the near future.

Second, the very publication of this “peace plan” has already exacerbated tensions with our European allies. Pursuing its implementation will do even further damage to our relations with our NATO allies.

Third, the provision in the plan that weakens Ukraine, such as a cap on the size of the Ukrainian military, is antithetical to American national interests. To deter war between Russia and NATO countries, NATO—an alliance that includes the United States, in case some in the Trump administration forgot—needs a strong Ukrainian military. Right now, even after fighting the Russian army for over three years, the Armed Forces of Ukraine remain the most effective military in Europe. NATO needs that army to stay strong to deter any future aggression from Russia. Eventually, to enhance deterrence, that army should be fully integrated into NATO. The United States benefits from a strong Ukraine, not a weak Ukraine.

Fourth, acceding to the erosion of norms regarding sovereignty sends a terrible signal to Beijing that Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party can also use force for territorial gain. Such a signal could wrongly tempt Xi into trying to seize Taiwan by force, a military action that would destroy the global economy and easily drag the United States into war with the People’s Republic of China.

Fifth, supporting this Russian proposal aligns the United States with the autocratic, imperial aggressor in this war. How does that enhance our international reputation? As I wrote about in my new book, the United States needs to be firmly on the side of the free world in the fight between autocrats and democrats unfolding over the next century. Trump’s siding with Putin blurs our commitment to freedom and undermines our once iron-clad reputation as the leader of the free world.

Finally, this Russian plan, as published, will not work. It will not end this war. Even if Zelenskyy wanted to accept it, his citizens and warriors would not. Trump, therefore, will look like a weak and failed negotiator if he tries to force Ukraine to capitulate.

The only path forward is a serious amendment to this draft document that removes the most egregious violations of Ukrainian sovereignty and calls upon Putin to make concessions, too. Most importantly, Putin cannot have a say in Ukraine’s sovereign affairs, be it the size of the army, Ukraine’s agreements on security guarantees with European and American partners, or relations with multilateral organizations such as NATO and the EU. NATO leaders did not seek Stalin’s permission when they established the alliance in 1949. And no one phoned up Khrushchev and asked for his blessing to bring part of Germany into the alliance in 1955. Asking for Moscow’s permission now—giving Putin a veto over how Ukraine conducts its own foreign policy—harkens back to earlier centuries of “spheres of influence”. We all know how poorly that system ended.

Hopefully, in the coming days, our European allies will engage with Trump and his team to propose substantive amendments to this Russian plan. After Trump’s failed summit with Putin in Alaska in August, which produced no tangible gains for American security or meaningful steps to end the war in Ukraine, the Europeans came to Washington a few days later to help get us back on course. Let’s hope they will so again in the coming days.

A strong, democratic, and independent Ukraine advances American security and values, both in Europe and around the world. A weak Ukraine subjugated to Russia undermines American security and values, both in Europe and around the world. Standing up to Putin makes the United States look strong. Appeasing Putin makes the United States look weak. It’s just that simple.

I hope Trump’s reversal to his old Putin-admiring self is just a temporary relapse. But I will not be fooled again by any changes in what Trump says, I will judge the president’s policies only by changes in his actions.