It has been three full years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and both sides continue to fight relentlessly. Countless attempts at negotiation and ceasefire have been made, yet a real solution to stop the bloodshed remains elusive.

As Winston Churchill famously said, “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” Talking is always preferable to fighting. Everyone agrees that this war must end as quickly as possible.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed confidence that he could stop the Russia-Ukraine war in just 24 hours. Months have now passed, and it has become clear to him that ending the conflict is far more difficult than he initially believed. Numerous meetings and rounds of talks have taken place, including the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska last August, but none have managed to improve the situation.

Recently, the United States put forward a new peace proposal known as the 28-Point Peace Plan, reportedly inspired by the framework used in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks. Washington claims this plan can reconcile the conflicting interests of Russia and Ukraine and lead to a lasting ceasefire and permanent peace.

However, many Western politicians and analysts believe the proposal is heavily biased in Russia’s favor. Several of its points clearly benefit Moscow far more than Kyiv. For example:

The size of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be limited to 600,000 personnel.

Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk will be recognized as de facto Russian territory, including by the United States.

From these two points alone, it is obvious that the aggressor is being rewarded by the United States itself. As the “Arsenal of Democracy,” America should be fully supporting Ukraine—a former Soviet republic that has transformed itself into a new democratic power in Europe—not forcing it to make painful concessions to its invader.

We all hate war. We all want this conflict to end immediately. But peace cannot be achieved at any cost, especially not by sacrificing the victim—in this case, Ukraine.

President Trump keeps pressuring Ukraine to accept an immediate ceasefire and stop fighting, yet he applies almost no real pressure on Russia to do the same. In fact, he has repeatedly blamed Ukraine and Europe for starting and prolonging the war, while consistently taking actions that align with Russian interests.

If the United States continues forcing Ukraine to surrender territory and accept permanent weakness, we should not be surprised when China invades Taiwan in the near future. World War II was triggered by the Allies’ weak response to Nazi aggression. Giving Hitler everything he demanded did not prevent war—it only delayed and enlarged it. Appeasement does not work; weakness invites more aggression. Yet we never seem to learn from history.

If this 28-point plan is eventually signed—and Ukraine will likely be coerced into signing it out of fear of losing U.S. military and financial aid—then the defeat of democracy will have officially begun. It will send a dangerous message to every authoritarian leader: military invasion pays off in the end.

Iran will feel free to continue its campaigns of terror against Israel and destabilize the Middle East. North Korea will threaten peace on the Korean Peninsula even more boldly. China will move on Taiwan and seize full control of the South China Sea.

If the current trend of appeasement continues and Trump’s logic on Ukraine is applied elsewhere, the United States will eventually give Iran a green light to build nuclear weapons in exchange for vague security guarantees to Israel and the Gulf states—while forcing those countries to downsize their own militaries. South Korea will be pressured to submit to Kim Jong Un’s regime. Taiwan will be asked to cede territory to Beijing and accept strict limits on its armed forces, just like Ukraine.

History has already shown that appeasement is not the way to preserve democracy and freedom. Neville Chamberlain and the Munich Agreement of 1938 remain the clearest proof of how naive it is to believe that satisfying a dictator’s demands will bring lasting peace. The exact opposite happens: dictators feel untouchable and face no consequences.

America and Europe must wake up. We cannot keep tolerating violations of sovereignty and the illegal occupation of other nations. True and lasting peace can only be achieved through strength—by giving full military, economic, and political support to the victim of aggression (Ukraine) until Putin realizes that his invasion has become too costly and risks total failure. Economic sanctions must remain in place until Russia’s war machine grinds to a halt.

The decision now rests with the leader of the free world: the United States. If President Trump insists on putting “America First” above the security of its allies and the principles of democracy, then World War III will no longer be a distant scenario—it will become an inevitable reality.

The choice is ours, and the clock is ticking.