U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing Ukraine to adopt a new peace deal, according to reports. It looks like the old peace deal.

• In March, President Trump called for an immediate ceasefire and said, “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal … there will be a 25 percent tariff on all oil.” There was no 25 percent tariff on oil, as America imports no oil from Russia.
• In April, Trump posted: “Vladimir, stop! I am not happy with the Russian strikes on Kyiv. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Let’s get the Peace Deal done!” Vladimir didn’t stop.
• In August, Trump said, “There will be very severe consequences if Putin does not agree to stop the war.” Putin did not agree to stop the war.

To be fair to President Trump, he has sanctioned two of Russia’s most important energy companies and placed 25 percent tariffs on India because it was buying Russian oil. These steps have made a difference, yet they fall short of the consequences he has repeatedly threatened.

He has seen that Putin doesn’t want peace and cannot keep his word. Yet he also keeps offering Putin generous peace deals.

Under the latest peace deal offer:

• Russia would get all of the Donbas region, including areas now under Ukrainian control. (The Telegraph reports that Ukraine could maintain legal ownership of the eastern Donbas but lease it to Russia.)
• The U.S. would recognize Russia’s control of the Donbas and Crimea, but Ukraine would not.
• The Ukrainian military would be reduced by more than half.
• Ukraine would be barred from owning certain types of weapons, probably including long-range missiles.
• The U.S. would phase out military support for Ukraine.
• Russian would become an official language across all of Ukraine.
• The Russia-aligned part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church would gain official recognition. (The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church is likely a former kgb agent and is making the church a tool of the Russian state.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy surely hates these terms, but he is weak right now. Officials close to him have been implicated in a corruption scandal that could topple his government. President Trump is reportedly using that as leverage to try to push Ukraine into accepting terms it has previously rejected.

Ukraine fears that this peace plan, especially the disarmament provisions, will enable Russia to attack again and conquer the whole country. America could promise to defend Ukraine in such an instance, but it promised that in 1994. Putin still annexed Crimea and invaded eastern Ukraine. U.S. promises—kept and unkept—are exactly what put the Ukrainians in this position.

President Trump has seen the way Putin works. He’s spoken out against him. Yet getting a peace deal remains his highest priority—regardless of the long-term consequences. So once again he offers a deal favorable to Putin, despite all his past rebukes. If he thinks he can get a deal by talking tough, he’ll do that. If he thinks he can use corruption to arm-twist a reluctant leader, he’ll do that. And if he thinks he can give in to Russia to get that peace deal signature, he’ll do that too.

“Peace is a noble goal, but if it is pursued the wrong way, that effort ends up achieving the opposite!” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry.

“Trump believes he can negotiate with Putin, giving him sections of Ukraine and expecting this to pacify him,” he warned. “That reveals a total lack of comprehension of the man he is dealing with.”

He then asked, “Can God get along with the devil?”

Compromising with evil never brings peace. That’s why, despite everything that happens, we’re back to the same kind of peace deal Donald Trump has offered again and again. The options are compromise with Putin or put in the hard work of confronting him. Confronting Putin is hard—perhaps impossible without God’s help. So we keep returning to compromise.

To learn more, read our October cover article: “The Roadblock to Peace.”