You’re right that Trump deserves no respect and that Zelenskyy shouldn’t have to bow to him. And to be honest, I’m not sure what the best word to replace “debase” would be. Maybe “prostrate” would be slightly better, in the sense that it has more of a connotation of being coerced instead of willing? I don’t know that it’s enough of an improvement to be worth an edit.

I’m not sure if English has a single word that fully conveys “performative capitulation to the petty demands of a small man in order to outmaneuver him diplomatically.”