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Ex-leader Trump stated on Saturday that his Moscow-drafted peace plan constituted "not my final offer", after fierce reaction from Ukraine's officials and analysts that compared it to the 1938 Munich agreement involving Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

During brief comments at the White House, the US president told journalists: "We’d like to get to peace. This should have occurred earlier … we are attempting to conclude it, in any case it must be resolved."

Upcoming Switzerland Negotiations Include Various Nations

Ukrainian and American delegates will meet in Switzerland this Sunday to discuss this proposal. Defense representatives from France, Britain and Germany will also participate in the talks in Geneva.

Prior to these discussions, US senators informed media outlets that State Department head Rubio reached out to them during his travel to Geneva to clarify the details of the leaked plan. He said, this plan did not originate from the administration but instead a "wish list of the Russians", as reported by Senator Angus King, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Critical Deadline

Nevertheless, Trump has set Volodymyr Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday for signing this multi-point agreement. It calls on Kyiv to cede territory it currently controls to Russia, downsize its military forces, and surrender advanced weaponry. Additionally, it excludes a European peacekeeping force and sanctions for Russian war crimes.

In a sombre speech last Friday, the Ukrainian leader warned that his country faces a difficult decision in the near future involving preserving the nation's honor and losing a major partner like the United States. Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine is experiencing an extremely challenging period in its history.

Ukraine's Dialogue Delegation Appointed for Geneva Meetings

Speaking on Saturday, the president emphasized that real or "dignified" peace was always based on "guaranteed security and justice". He announced a negotiating team, appointed through a decree, that would soon meet its US counterparts in Geneva, led by his chief of staff Yermak.

A additional delegate of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-defense head and national security council secretary Umerov, said there would be consultations with the US regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Hinting at limits, Umerov 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 Concerns

The Ukrainian president has attempted to engage constructively with a White House seemingly determined to resolve the war on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has emphasized that he will not surrender Ukraine’s sovereignty or disregard the constitutional framework that enshrines the country’s current borders.

At a meeting in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and EU representatives released a collective declaration pushing back on Trump’s plan, stating it requires further refinement. The statement indicated that members of the EU and NATO would need to be consulted on some of its provisions, which rule out Kyiv’s Nato membership and put conditions on its future EU accession.

Citizen Views in Kyiv

Responses from Ukrainians to the text, prepared by Putin’s envoy and a US delegate, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Commentators said it outlined a plan for further Russian aggression: targeting not just Ukraine but of other parts of Europe too.

Nayyem, a public figure who led 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. It was an insult people who had hidden in basements in affected cities – sites of civilian executions – and families of deported children to Russian territory. "A rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Dmytro Sariskyi, a young adult, commented that Russia had been trying to dominate Ukraine over many years. It conceded very little in the proposed deal and continued to keep its forces on Ukrainian soil. 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 sacrifice its liberties, he said. If rejected, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a crucial source of military intelligence for frontline Ukrainian troops. "There is no good way out of this for now," he remarked.

Diverse Viewpoints from Ukrainian Citizens

A different commuter, teenager Sofia Barchan, asserted that Ukraine would remain resilient without American support. "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 predicted he would not give up Ukrainian land.

Speaking in the rain, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Ivanovna said her appreciation to the former US leader for his peace-making efforts. She said that Ukraine should be ready ceding certain regions for a limited time if it meant keeping America as a partner. The president should conduct a public vote on this matter, she said.

EU Leaders Criticize the Proposal

Previous European leaders have strongly criticized this proposal. Ex-PM of Finland Sanna Marin described it as a catastrophe, not only for Ukraine and Ukrainians but for democracies worldwide. She said if Western nations display vulnerability – as it did in 2014 when Putin annexed Crimea – "more aggression and conflicts" would follow.

The former prime minister of Belgium, Verhofstadt, referenced a statement by Churchill regarding appeasement as someone who accommodates an aggressor. He added: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe faces a choice between compromise and principles. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."