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Former President Trump remarked this past weekend that his Moscow-drafted peace plan constituted "not my final offer", after intense criticism from Ukraine's leaders and commentators who compared it to the Munich pact of 1938 between Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

In brief remarks from the White House, the US president informed reporters: "We’d like to get to peace. This should have occurred earlier … we’re trying to get it ended, in any case it must be resolved."

Forthcoming Geneva Negotiations Involve Multiple Nations

US and Ukrainian officials will meet in Geneva this Sunday for discussions on the plan. Defense representatives from France, Britain and Germany are expected to join the talks in Geneva.

Prior to these discussions, American lawmakers told media outlets that State Department head Rubio reached out to them during his travel to Switzerland for clarification on the details of the leaked plan. He said, this plan "was not the administration’s plan" but rather a "wish list of the Russians", according to Senator King, a member on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Faces Critical Deadline

However, Trump has given Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday to sign this multi-point agreement. The document requires Kyiv to cede land it currently controls to Russia, reduce its military forces, and surrender long-range weapons. It also rules out international peacekeepers and sanctions for Russian war crimes.

In a sombre address on Friday, Zelenskyy cautioned that his country confronts a difficult decision over the coming days between preserving the nation's honor and losing key ally in the shape of the US. He admitted that it faces an extremely challenging period historically.

Ukrainian Negotiating Delegation Formed for Geneva Meetings

In comments this weekend, the president said that real or respectable resolution depends on "guaranteed security and justice". He announced a negotiating team, appointed through a decree, that would soon meet its US counterparts in Geneva, headed by his chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

Another member from Ukraine's team, former defence minister and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, stated there would be consultations with Washington regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Hinting at limits, 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 Reaction and Criticism

Zelenskyy has sought to participate positively with a White House seemingly determined to resolve the war on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has emphasized he cannot give up the nation's independence or abandon a constitution that protects Ukraine's territorial integrity.

At a meeting in South Africa, G20 leaders and EU representatives released a collective declaration pushing back on the proposed deal, stating it requires "additional work". The statement indicated that members of the EU and NATO would need to be consulted regarding certain clauses, which rule out Ukraine's NATO accession and impose terms on its European Union membership.

Public Views in Ukraine's Capital

Responses from Ukrainians to the text, prepared by Putin’s envoy and Trump’s representative, have been largely negative. Commentators argued it was a blueprint for further Russian aggression: not only of Ukraine but other European regions as well.

Nayyem, a public figure involved in the 2014 Maidan protests, remarked it invited parallels with Chamberlain’s infamous Munich deal. Trumps’s peace plan belonged to the same "recognisable genre", where the affected party is asked "to formulate his own defeat so everyone else can live easier".

On social media, he expressed he was outraged by the complete pardon for Russian atrocities. This offended those who sought shelter in Bucha or Mariupol – sites of civilian executions – and for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russia. A deeply cynical deal, he concluded.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Dmytro Sariskyi, 21, commented that Russia had been trying to control Ukraine politically and territorially over many years. It conceded "barely anything" in the proposed deal and continued to keep 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 would most likely break off cooperation and intelligence sharing, a crucial source of military intelligence for Ukraine's forces. "There is no good way out of this for now," he noted.

Diverse Perspectives from Ukrainian Citizens

Another passenger, teenager Barchan, asserted 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. They are Ukrainian land." She said that the president is intelligent and predicted he would not cede territory.

Speaking during rainfall, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Ivanovna said she was grateful to Trump for his peace-making efforts. She said that Ukraine should be ready to give away Crimea and the eastern Donbas region for a limited time if it meant keeping America as a partner. The president should conduct a public vote on this matter, she proposed.

European Leaders Condemn the Plan

Former European heads of state have strongly criticized the plan. Ex-PM of Finland Sanna Marin described it as a catastrophe, not only for Ukraine and Ukrainians but for democracies worldwide. She warned if the west showed weakness and ignorance – similar to the 2014 Crimea annexation – "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 continued: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe faces a choice between compromise and principles. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."