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Ex-leader Trump remarked on Saturday that the Russian-prepared peace plan constituted not his ultimate proposal, following strong backlash from Ukrainian officials and analysts who likened it to a Munich pact of 1938 between Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

During brief comments at the White House, Trump told reporters: Our goal is to achieve peace. This should have occurred earlier … we are attempting to conclude it, one way or the other we have to get it ended."

Forthcoming Geneva Negotiations Involve Various Countries

US and Ukrainian delegates are scheduled to meet in Switzerland this Sunday to discuss the plan. Security officials from Germany, France, and the UK will also participate in the talks in Geneva.

Prior to the talks, American lawmakers informed media outlets that Secretary of State Rubio reached out to them while en route to Geneva for clarification on the nature of the leaked plan. He said, this plan "was not the administration’s plan" but instead a "wish list of the Russians", according to independent Maine senator King, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Critical Deadline

However, the former president has set Volodymyr Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday to sign this multi-point agreement. The document requires Kyiv to give up land under its control to Moscow, reduce the size of its army, and relinquish advanced weaponry. Additionally, it rules out international peacekeepers and penalties for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn speech last Friday, the Ukrainian leader warned that Ukraine confronts a difficult decision over the coming days involving keeping the nation's honor and losing a major partner like the United States. Zelenskyy acknowledged that it faces an extremely challenging period in its history.

Ukraine's Dialogue Delegation Appointed for Geneva Meetings

In comments on Saturday, the president emphasized that real or respectable resolution was always based on assured safety and fairness. He revealed a negotiating team, appointed by presidential decree, that would soon meet its US counterparts in Switzerland, headed by top aide Yermak.

Another member from Ukraine's team, ex-defense head and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, stated they will hold discussions with Washington "on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement".

Suggesting limits, he noted: "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."

International Reaction and Criticism

The Ukrainian president has sought to engage constructively with a White House seemingly determined to end the conflict based on Russian conditions. He has emphasized that he will not surrender Ukraine’s sovereignty or abandon a constitution that enshrines Ukraine's territorial integrity.

At a meeting in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and the European Council issued a joint statement opposing Trump’s plan, saying it needs "additional work". The statement indicated that EU and Nato members must be involved on some of its provisions, which rule out Kyiv’s Nato membership and impose terms on its European Union membership.

Public Views in Kyiv

Responses from Ukrainians to the proposal, prepared 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 of other parts of Europe as well.

Mustafa Nayyem, a journalist and politician involved in the 2014 Maidan protests, said 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 outline its own surrender for broader convenience.

On social media, Nayyem expressed he was outraged 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 families of deported children to Russia. "A rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

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

If Zelenskyy signed off on the proposals it would be compelled to give up its freedoms, he said. If it didn’t, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a vital resource of battlefield information for frontline Ukrainian troops. "There is no good way out of this for now," he remarked.

Diverse Perspectives from Ukrainian Citizens

A different commuter, 19-year-old Barchan, said that Ukraine would "keep strong" lacking US backing. We will continue our struggle as needed. Crimea and the eastern regions are part of Ukraine. It belongs to Ukraine." She expressed that the president is intelligent and forecasted he would not give up Ukrainian land.

Speaking in the rain, near a historical monument, Olena Ivanovna mentioned she was grateful to Trump for his attempts to broker peace. She said that Ukraine should be ready to give away certain regions temporarily if it ensured maintaining US support. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she proposed.

EU Officials Criticize the Proposal

Former European heads of state have roundly condemned this proposal. Finland’s former prime minister Marin called it a disaster, not only for Ukraine and Ukrainians but for "all of the democratic world". She said if Western nations display vulnerability – similar to the 2014 Crimea annexation – further hostilities would follow.

The former prime minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, quoted Churchill’s definition of an appeaser as someone who accommodates an aggressor. He continued: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe must choose again: appeasement or our values, imperialism or freedom. A critical juncture for the European Union."