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Former President Trump indicated this past weekend that his Moscow-drafted peace plan constituted "not my final offer", after fierce backlash from Ukrainian leaders and analysts who likened it to the Munich pact of 1938 involving Neville Chamberlain and Hitler.

During short remarks at the White House, Trump told journalists: "We’d like to get to peace. This should have occurred earlier … we’re trying to get it ended, one way or the other we have to get it ended."

Upcoming Geneva Negotiations Include Multiple Nations

US and Ukrainian delegates will meet in Switzerland on Sunday to discuss this proposal. Security officials from Germany, France, and the UK are expected to join the talks there.

Ahead of the talks, US senators told media outlets that Secretary of State Rubio reached out to them during his travel to Switzerland to clarify the nature of this disclosed proposal. According to him, this plan "was not the administration’s plan" but rather reflected Russian desires, according to independent Maine senator Angus King, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Crucial Time Limit

Nevertheless, the former president has set Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday for signing this multi-point agreement. It calls on Kyiv to give up land it currently controls to Russia, downsize the size of its army, and relinquish long-range weapons. It also excludes international peacekeepers and sanctions for Russian war crimes.

In a sombre speech on Friday, the Ukrainian leader warned that his country faces an impossible choice over the coming days involving keeping its national dignity and losing a major partner in the shape of the US. He admitted that it faces one of the most difficult moments historically.

Ukrainian Dialogue Delegation Appointed for Geneva Talks

Speaking this weekend, the president emphasized that genuine or "dignified" peace was always based on "guaranteed security and justice". He announced a negotiating team, appointed by presidential decree, that would soon meet American representatives in Switzerland, headed by his chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

Another member of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-defense head and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, said they will hold discussions with Washington regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Hinting at red lines, he added: "Ukraine approaches this process with a clear understanding of its interests. This is another stage of the dialogue that has been ongoing in recent days and is primarily aimed at aligning our vision for the next steps."

Global Response and Criticism

The Ukrainian president has sought to participate positively with a White House seemingly determined to end the conflict on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has emphasized that he will not surrender the nation's independence or disregard the constitutional framework that protects the country’s current borders.

At a meeting in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and the European Council issued a collective declaration pushing back on Trump’s plan, saying it requires further refinement. The statement indicated that EU and Nato members would need to be consulted on some of its provisions, that exclude Ukraine's NATO accession and impose terms on its future EU accession.

Public Opinion in Ukraine's Capital

Ukrainian reaction to the text, drawn up by Putin’s envoy and Trump’s representative, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Commentators argued it outlined a plan for further Russian aggression: targeting not just Ukraine but other European regions as well.

Mustafa Nayyem, a public figure involved in Ukraine’s 2014 pro-democracy Maidan revolution, said it invited parallels with Chamberlain’s infamous Munich deal. Trumps’s peace plan came from the same "recognisable genre", with the victim invited "to formulate his own defeat so everyone else can live easier".

In a Facebook post, he said he was outraged by its "full" amnesty for Russian war crimes. This offended people who had hidden in basements in Bucha or Mariupol – where Russian troops executed hundreds of civilians – and for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russia. "A rather cynical agreement," he stated.

In an interview in a Kyiv subway station, Sariskyi, 21, commented that Russia had been trying to control Ukraine politically and territorially "for years". It conceded very little in the proposed deal and maintained troops in Ukraine. In my view, this deal aims to undermine Ukraine and impose unfair terms, he said.

Should Ukraine accept the terms it would be compelled to give up its freedoms, he added. If it didn’t, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a vital resource of battlefield information for frontline Ukrainian troops. "There is no good way out of this for now," he remarked.

Diverse Viewpoints from the Public

A different commuter, 19-year-old Sofia Barchan, said that Ukraine would remain resilient lacking US backing. "We will fight for as long as it takes. Crimea and the eastern regions are part of Ukraine. It belongs to Ukraine." She said that the president is intelligent and forecasted he would not cede territory.

Speaking during rainfall, near a historical monument, Ivanovna said her appreciation to Trump for his attempts to broker peace. She said that Ukraine ought to consider ceding Crimea and the eastern Donbas region for a limited time if it ensured maintaining US support. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she said.

European Officials Criticize the Proposal

Previous European leaders have strongly criticized the plan. Finland’s former prime minister Marin described it as a catastrophe, affecting not just Ukraine but for democracies worldwide. She said if Western nations display vulnerability – similar to the 2014 Crimea annexation – "more aggression and conflicts" could arise.

Belgium's ex-PM, Verhofstadt, quoted Churchill’s definition regarding appeasement as "one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last". He added: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe must choose again: appeasement or our values, imperialism or freedom. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."