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Former President Donald Trump stated this past weekend that the Moscow-drafted peace plan constituted "not my final offer", after strong backlash from Ukrainian officials and analysts that likened it to a Munich pact of 1938 between Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

During brief comments at the White House, Trump told journalists: "We’d like to get to peace. It should’ve happened a long time ago … we are attempting to conclude it, one way or the other we have to get it ended."

Upcoming Switzerland Negotiations Involve Various Nations

US and Ukrainian delegates will meet in Geneva this Sunday to discuss the plan. Security officials from France, Britain and Germany are expected to join the talks there.

Prior to the talks, US senators informed media outlets that Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted them while en route to Switzerland to clarify the details of this disclosed proposal. He said, this plan did not originate from the administration but rather a "wish list of the Russians", according to Senator King, a member on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Critical Time Limit

However, the former president has given Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday for signing this multi-point agreement. The document requires Kyiv to give up territory under its control to Russia, reduce its military forces, and relinquish advanced weaponry. It also rules out international peacekeepers and sanctions for atrocities committed by Russia.

During a solemn speech last Friday, the Ukrainian leader cautioned that his country faces an impossible choice in the near future between keeping its national dignity and forfeiting key ally in the shape of the US. He admitted that it faces an extremely challenging period in its history.

Ukraine's Negotiating Team Appointed for Geneva Talks

Speaking this weekend, the president emphasized that genuine or respectable resolution 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, led by top aide Yermak.

Another member of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-defense head and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, said they will hold consultations with Washington "on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement".

Hinting at 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 participate positively with the US administration apparently intent to resolve the war on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has made clear that he will not surrender Ukraine’s sovereignty or disregard a constitution that protects the country’s current borders.

During a summit in South Africa, G20 leaders and the European Council issued a joint statement pushing back on the proposed deal, saying it needs further refinement. The statement indicated that members of the EU and NATO must be involved regarding certain clauses, that exclude Kyiv’s Nato membership and impose terms on its future EU accession.

Citizen Opinion in Ukraine's Capital

Ukrainian reaction to the proposal, drawn up by Putin’s envoy and a US delegate, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Commentators argued it outlined a plan for further Russian aggression: targeting not just Ukraine but of other parts of Europe too.

Nayyem, a public figure involved in Ukraine’s 2014 pro-democracy Maidan revolution, remarked it drew comparisons 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 affected cities – sites of civilian executions – and for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russian territory. "A rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Dmytro Sariskyi, 21, commented that Russia had been trying to dominate Ukraine "for 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 remarked.

Should Ukraine accept the terms Kyiv would be forced to sacrifice its liberties, he said. If it didn’t, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a crucial source of military intelligence for Ukraine's forces. "There is no good way out of this for now," he noted.

Varied Viewpoints from the Public

A different commuter, 19-year-old Barchan, asserted that the country would "keep strong" without American support. We will continue our struggle as needed. Our territory will remain our territory, including Crimea and the east. They are Ukrainian land." She expressed Zelenskyy was a "smart person" and forecasted he would not give up Ukrainian land.

Speaking in the rain, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Ivanovna mentioned her appreciation to Trump for his attempts to broker peace. She said that the nation should be ready to give away certain regions temporarily if it meant keeping America as a partner. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she said.

European Leaders Criticize the Plan

Previous European leaders have strongly criticized the plan. Finland’s former prime minister Sanna Marin called it a catastrophe, affecting not just Ukraine but for "all of the democratic world". She warned if Western nations display vulnerability – similar to the 2014 Crimea annexation – further hostilities would follow.

Belgium's ex-PM, Guy Verhofstadt, referenced a statement by Churchill of an appeaser as "one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last". He added: Trump aligns with Putin. Europe must choose again: appeasement or our values, imperialism or freedom. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."