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Ex-leader Donald Trump remarked this past weekend that the Moscow-drafted peace plan was "not my final offer", following intense backlash from Ukrainian leaders and analysts who likened it to a 1938 Munich agreement between Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

In short remarks at the White House, Trump informed journalists: "We’d like to get to peace. It should’ve happened a long time ago … we’re trying to get it ended, one way or the other it must be resolved."

Upcoming Geneva Talks Involve Multiple Countries

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

Ahead of the talks, American lawmakers informed the press that State Department head Marco Rubio reached out to them during his travel to Geneva to clarify the details of the leaked plan. According to him, the proposal "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 Crucial Deadline

However, Trump has given Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday to sign this multi-point agreement. The document requires Ukraine to cede land it currently controls to Moscow, downsize its military forces, and surrender long-range weapons. It also rules out a European peacekeeping force and sanctions for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn address on Friday, the Ukrainian leader cautioned that Ukraine confronts an impossible choice in the near future involving keeping the nation's honor and forfeiting key ally like the United States. He admitted that Ukraine is experiencing an extremely challenging period in its history.

Ukrainian Dialogue Delegation Formed for Upcoming Talks

Speaking on Saturday, the president said that real or respectable peace was always based on "guaranteed security and justice". He revealed a negotiating team, established by presidential decree, that would soon meet American representatives in Geneva, led by top aide Yermak.

A additional delegate of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-defense head and security council official Rustem Umerov, said they will hold consultations with the US regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

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 Response and Concerns

Zelenskyy has sought to participate positively with the US administration apparently intent to end the conflict on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has made clear that he will not surrender Ukraine’s sovereignty or abandon the constitutional framework that enshrines the country’s current borders.

At a meeting in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and the European Council issued a joint statement pushing back on Trump’s plan, stating it requires further refinement. It said that members of the EU and NATO must be involved regarding certain clauses, which rule out Kyiv’s Nato membership and put conditions on its European Union membership.

Public Views in Ukraine's Capital

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

Nayyem, a public figure who led the 2014 Maidan protests, said it drew comparisons with the Munich Agreement. The proposal came from a similar category, where the affected party is asked "to formulate his own defeat so everyone else can live easier".

On social media, Nayyem expressed he was outraged by the complete pardon for Russian atrocities. It was an insult people who had hidden in basements in Bucha or Mariupol – sites of civilian executions – and families of deported children to Russian territory. "A rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Sariskyi, a young adult, said that Moscow had been trying to dominate Ukraine over many 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 said.

If Zelenskyy signed off on the proposals Kyiv would be forced to sacrifice its liberties, he added. If rejected, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a vital resource of battlefield information for frontline Ukrainian troops. Currently, there is no favorable solution, he remarked.

Diverse Viewpoints from the Public

Another passenger, teenager Sofia Barchan, said that Ukraine would remain resilient without American support. "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 expressed that the president is intelligent and forecasted he would not give up Ukrainian land.

While speaking in the rain, near a historical monument, Ivanovna said her appreciation to the former US leader for his attempts to broker peace. She said that Ukraine ought to consider to give away Crimea and the eastern Donbas region for a limited time if it meant keeping America as a partner. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she proposed.

EU Officials Condemn the Proposal

Former European heads of state have strongly criticized this proposal. Finland’s former prime minister Sanna Marin described it as a disaster, affecting not just Ukraine but for "all of the democratic world". She warned if the west showed weakness and ignorance – as it did in 2014 when Putin annexed Crimea – further hostilities would follow.

The former prime minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, referenced a statement by Churchill regarding appeasement 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. A critical juncture for the European Union."