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Former President Trump indicated this past weekend that the Russian-prepared proposal for peace constituted not his ultimate proposal, after strong backlash from Ukrainian officials and commentators that compared it to a 1938 Munich agreement between Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

In brief comments at the White House, Trump informed journalists: "We’d like to get to peace. This should have occurred earlier … we’re trying to get it ended, in any case we have to get it ended."

Upcoming Geneva Negotiations Involve Multiple Countries

US and Ukrainian delegates will meet in Geneva on Sunday for discussions on this proposal. Security officials from Germany, France, and the UK will also participate in these negotiations in Geneva.

Prior to these discussions, US senators told the press that Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached out to them during his travel to Geneva to clarify the nature of the leaked plan. According to him, this plan "was not the administration’s plan" but rather reflected Russian desires, as reported by independent Maine senator King, a member on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Zelenskyy Confronts Crucial Time Limit

However, Trump has set Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday for signing the 28-point document. The document requires Kyiv to cede territory under its control to Moscow, reduce the size of its army, and relinquish long-range weapons. It also excludes international peacekeepers and sanctions for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn address on Friday, Zelenskyy warned that Ukraine faces a difficult decision over the coming days between keeping its national dignity and losing a major partner in the shape of the US. He admitted that Ukraine is experiencing one of the most difficult moments historically.

Ukraine's Negotiating Delegation Appointed for Upcoming Talks

Speaking this weekend, Zelenskyy emphasized that real or respectable resolution was always based on "guaranteed security and justice". He revealed a delegation, established through a decree, which will meet its US counterparts in Geneva, headed by his chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

Another member from Ukraine's team, ex-defense head and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, stated there would be consultations with the US "on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement".

Suggesting red lines, he added: 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 sought to engage constructively with the US administration seemingly determined to resolve the war on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has emphasized he cannot give up Ukraine’s sovereignty or abandon a constitution that enshrines Ukraine's territorial integrity.

At a meeting held in South Africa, G20 leaders and the European Council released a joint statement pushing back on Trump’s plan, saying it requires "additional work". The statement indicated that members of the EU and NATO would need to be consulted on some of its provisions, that exclude Kyiv’s Nato membership and impose terms on its European Union membership.

Citizen Opinion in Kyiv

Responses from Ukrainians to the text, drawn up by a Russian representative and a US delegate, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Analysts argued it outlined a plan for further Russian aggression: targeting not just Ukraine but other European regions as well.

Mustafa Nayyem, a journalist and politician who led Ukraine’s 2014 pro-democracy Maidan revolution, said it invited parallels with the Munich Agreement. 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 said his anger by its "full" amnesty for Russian war crimes. It was an insult those who sought shelter in affected cities – where Russian troops executed hundreds of civilians – and for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russian territory. A deeply cynical deal, he stated.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Sariskyi, 21, commented that Russia had been trying to dominate Ukraine "for years". The agreement offered very little in the proposed deal and maintained troops in Ukraine. "I think the deal is an attempt to break Ukraine and force unjust conditions on us," he remarked.

If Zelenskyy signed off on the proposals it would be compelled to give up its freedoms, he added. If rejected, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a crucial source of military intelligence for Ukraine's forces. Currently, there is no favorable solution, he remarked.

Diverse Viewpoints from the Public

Another passenger, 19-year-old Sofia Barchan, asserted that Ukraine would remain resilient lacking US backing. "We will fight for as long as it takes. Our territory will remain our territory, including Crimea and the east. They are Ukrainian land." She said Zelenskyy was a "smart person" and forecasted he would not give up Ukrainian land.

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 ought to consider 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 proposed.

EU Leaders Condemn the Plan

Former European heads of state have roundly condemned this proposal. Ex-PM of Finland Marin called it a disaster, affecting not just Ukraine but for "all of the democratic world". She warned if Western nations display vulnerability – similar to the 2014 Crimea annexation – "more aggression and conflicts" would follow.

The former prime minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, quoted Churchill’s definition of an appeaser as "one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last". He continued: Trump aligns with Putin. Europe faces a choice between compromise and principles. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."