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Former President Donald Trump remarked this past weekend that his Moscow-drafted peace plan constituted "not my final offer", following strong criticism from Ukraine's officials and analysts that compared it to the Munich pact of 1938 between Chamberlain and Hitler.

In short comments from the White House, the US president told reporters: "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 Talks Involve Multiple Nations

Ukrainian and American officials are scheduled to meet in Switzerland this Sunday to discuss the plan. Security officials from Germany, France, and the UK are expected to join these negotiations there.

Prior to these discussions, American lawmakers told media outlets that State Department head Marco Rubio contacted them while en route to Switzerland for clarification on the nature of this disclosed proposal. According to him, this plan did not originate from the administration but rather a "wish list of the Russians", according to independent Maine senator King, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Crucial Deadline

Nevertheless, the former president has given Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to sign the 28-point document. It calls on Kyiv to give up land it currently controls to Russia, downsize the size of its army, and surrender long-range weapons. Additionally, it excludes a European peacekeeping force and penalties for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn address last Friday, the Ukrainian leader cautioned that his country confronts a difficult decision over the coming days between keeping its national dignity and losing a major partner like the United States. Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine is experiencing an extremely challenging period in its history.

Ukraine's Negotiating Team Formed for Geneva Talks

In comments this weekend, the president said that genuine or "dignified" peace depends on "guaranteed security and justice". He announced a negotiating team, established by presidential decree, that would soon meet its US counterparts in Switzerland, led by his chief of staff Yermak.

A additional delegate of the Ukrainian delegation, former defence minister and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, stated there would be discussions with Washington regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Suggesting red lines, he noted: Ukraine enters these talks with defined goals. 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

Zelenskyy has attempted to engage constructively with a White House seemingly determined to resolve the war based on Russian conditions. He has emphasized he cannot give up the nation's independence or abandon a constitution that enshrines Ukraine's territorial integrity.

During a summit in South Africa, G20 leaders and the European Council released a joint statement pushing back on the proposed deal, stating it requires further refinement. It said that EU and Nato members must be involved regarding certain clauses, which rule out Ukraine's NATO accession and put conditions on its future EU accession.

Citizen Views in Ukraine's Capital

Ukrainian reaction to the proposal, drawn up by a Russian representative and a US delegate, have been largely negative. Commentators said it outlined a plan for another Russian invasion: not only of Ukraine but other European regions as well.

Mustafa Nayyem, a journalist and politician involved in the 2014 Maidan protests, remarked it invited parallels with the Munich Agreement. Trumps’s peace plan came from the same "recognisable genre", with the victim invited to outline its own surrender for broader convenience.

In a Facebook post, he expressed his anger by its "full" amnesty for Russian war crimes. It was an insult people who had hidden in basements in affected cities – where Russian troops executed hundreds of civilians – and for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russian territory. "A rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

Speaking in a Kyiv subway station, Dmytro Sariskyi, a young adult, commented that Russia has attempted to dominate Ukraine over many years. The agreement offered 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 remarked.

Should Ukraine accept the terms it would be compelled to give up its freedoms, he said. If it didn’t, the US would most likely break off cooperation and intelligence sharing, a crucial source of battlefield information for Ukraine's forces. Currently, there is no favorable solution, he noted.

Varied Viewpoints from the Public

A different commuter, teenager 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 Zelenskyy was a "smart person" and predicted he would not cede territory.

Speaking during rainfall, near a historical monument, Olena Ivanovna mentioned her appreciation to the former US leader for his attempts to broker peace. She suggested that the nation should be ready ceding Crimea and the eastern Donbas region for a limited time if it meant maintaining US support. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she said.

EU Officials Criticize the Plan

Former European heads of state have roundly condemned this proposal. Finland’s former prime minister Sanna Marin called it a disaster, 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" could arise.

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