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Former President Donald Trump indicated on Saturday that his Moscow-drafted peace plan was "not my final offer", following intense criticism from Ukrainian officials and commentators that compared it to the 1938 Munich agreement between Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

In short comments 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."

Forthcoming Switzerland Talks Involve Various Nations

Ukrainian and American officials will meet in Geneva this Sunday for discussions on this proposal. Security officials from France, Britain and Germany will also participate in these negotiations in Geneva.

Prior to the talks, American lawmakers told the press that State Department head Rubio contacted them while en route to Geneva to clarify the details of this disclosed proposal. According to him, the proposal did not originate from the administration but instead a "wish list of the Russians", as reported by Senator Angus King, a member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Faces Critical Time Limit

However, the former president has set Zelenskyy until Thursday for signing the 28-point document. It calls on Kyiv to cede territory under its control to Russia, reduce the size of its army, and relinquish advanced weaponry. Additionally, it excludes a European peacekeeping force and sanctions for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn address on Friday, Zelenskyy cautioned that his country confronts an impossible choice over the coming days between preserving its national dignity and forfeiting key ally like the United States. Zelenskyy acknowledged that it faces an extremely challenging period historically.

Ukrainian Negotiating Delegation Appointed for Upcoming Talks

In comments this weekend, the president said that genuine or respectable peace depends on "guaranteed security and justice". He announced a delegation, established through a decree, that would soon meet American representatives in Geneva, led by his chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

Another member of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-defense head and security council official Umerov, stated there would be consultations with Washington "on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement".

Suggesting limits, 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."

International Reaction and Criticism

The Ukrainian president has attempted to engage constructively with the US administration seemingly determined to end the conflict on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has emphasized he cannot give up Ukraine’s sovereignty or disregard the constitutional framework that enshrines Ukraine's territorial integrity.

At a meeting in South Africa, G20 leaders and the European Council released a joint statement opposing the proposed deal, saying it requires "additional work". It said that EU and Nato members must be involved regarding certain clauses, that exclude Kyiv’s Nato membership and put conditions on its European Union membership.

Citizen Opinion in Ukraine's Capital

Ukrainian reaction to the proposal, drawn up by a Russian representative and Trump’s representative, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Commentators said it was a blueprint for further Russian aggression: targeting not just Ukraine but of other parts of Europe too.

Mustafa Nayyem, a journalist and politician who led the 2014 Maidan protests, remarked it invited parallels with Chamberlain’s infamous Munich deal. Trumps’s peace plan came from the same "recognisable genre", where the affected party is asked "to formulate his own defeat so everyone else can live easier".

In a Facebook post, he expressed his anger by the complete pardon for Russian atrocities. It was an insult 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 concluded.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Dmytro Sariskyi, 21, commented that Russia has attempted to control Ukraine politically and territorially over many years. The agreement offered "barely anything" in the Trump agreement and maintained troops in Ukraine. In my view, this deal aims to undermine Ukraine and impose unfair terms, he said.

If Zelenskyy signed off on the proposals Kyiv would be forced to sacrifice its liberties, he added. If rejected, the US would most likely break off cooperation and intelligence sharing, a crucial source of military intelligence for frontline Ukrainian troops. Currently, there is no favorable solution, he remarked.

Varied Viewpoints from the Public

Another passenger, 19-year-old Barchan, said that the country 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 expressed Zelenskyy was a "smart person" and predicted he would not cede territory.

Speaking during rainfall, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Olena Ivanovna mentioned she was grateful to the former US leader for his attempts to broker peace. She said that the nation should be ready ceding Crimea and the eastern Donbas region temporarily if it ensured maintaining US support. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she said.

EU Leaders Criticize the Proposal

Previous European leaders have roundly condemned the plan. Finland’s former prime minister 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" would follow.

The former prime minister of Belgium, Verhofstadt, quoted a statement by Churchill regarding appeasement as someone who accommodates an aggressor. He continued: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe faces a choice between compromise and principles. A critical juncture for the European Union."