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Former President Donald Trump stated on Saturday that the Russian-prepared peace plan constituted "not my final offer", after fierce backlash from Ukrainian leaders and commentators that likened it to the Munich pact of 1938 involving Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

In short comments at the White House, the US president told journalists: Our goal is to achieve 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 Include Multiple Countries

Ukrainian and American officials are scheduled to meet in Geneva on Sunday to discuss the plan. Defense representatives from Germany, France, and the UK are expected to join the talks in Geneva.

Ahead of the talks, American lawmakers told media outlets that State Department head Marco Rubio reached out to them during his travel to Switzerland to clarify the nature of the leaked plan. According to him, the proposal "was not the administration’s plan" but instead reflected Russian desires, according to Senator King, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Crucial Time Limit

However, the former president has set Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to sign the 28-point document. The document requires Kyiv to give up territory it currently controls to Moscow, reduce the size of its army, and surrender advanced weaponry. It also excludes international peacekeepers and penalties for Russian war crimes.

In a sombre address last Friday, Zelenskyy warned that Ukraine faces an impossible choice in the near future between keeping its national dignity and losing a major partner like the United States. Zelenskyy acknowledged that it faces one of the most difficult moments historically.

Ukraine's Negotiating Team Formed for Upcoming Meetings

Speaking this weekend, Zelenskyy emphasized that genuine or respectable resolution depends on "guaranteed security and justice". He revealed a delegation, appointed through a decree, which will meet its US counterparts in Geneva, headed by top aide Yermak.

Another member of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-defense head and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, stated they will hold consultations with the US regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Suggesting red lines, Umerov 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 Concerns

The Ukrainian president has attempted to participate positively with the US administration seemingly determined to end the conflict on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has emphasized that he will not surrender the nation's independence or abandon the constitutional framework that enshrines the country’s current borders.

During a summit held in South Africa, G20 leaders and EU representatives issued a joint statement opposing the proposed deal, stating it needs "additional work". The statement indicated that members of the EU and NATO must be involved on some of its provisions, that exclude Ukraine's NATO accession and impose terms on its European Union membership.

Citizen Views in Kyiv

Ukrainian reaction to the proposal, prepared by a Russian representative and a US delegate, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Analysts said it outlined a plan for another Russian invasion: not only of Ukraine but other European regions too.

Mustafa Nayyem, a public figure who led the 2014 Maidan protests, remarked it drew comparisons with Chamberlain’s infamous Munich deal. Trumps’s peace plan belonged to a similar category, with the victim invited "to formulate his own defeat so everyone else can live easier".

In a Facebook post, Nayyem expressed his anger by its "full" amnesty for Russian war crimes. It was an insult people who had hidden in basements in Bucha or Mariupol – where Russian troops executed hundreds of civilians – and families of deported children to Russia. A deeply cynical deal, he stated.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Dmytro Sariskyi, a young adult, said that Moscow has attempted to control Ukraine politically and territorially over many years. It conceded very little 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.

If Zelenskyy signed off on the proposals it would be compelled to give up its freedoms, he said. If rejected, the US would most likely break off cooperation and intelligence sharing, a vital resource of military intelligence for Ukraine's forces. Currently, there is no favorable solution, he noted.

Varied Perspectives from Ukrainian Citizens

A different commuter, teenager Sofia Barchan, asserted that the country would remain resilient lacking US backing. We will continue our struggle as needed. Our territory will remain our territory, including Crimea and the east. It belongs to Ukraine." She expressed that the president is intelligent and predicted he would not give up Ukrainian land.

Speaking in the rain, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Olena Ivanovna said her appreciation to the former US leader for his peace-making efforts. She said that the nation ought to consider to give away Crimea and the eastern Donbas region temporarily if it ensured keeping America as a partner. The president should conduct a public vote on this matter, she said.

European Officials Criticize the Proposal

Former European heads of state have strongly criticized the plan. Finland’s former prime minister Sanna Marin called it a catastrophe, affecting not just Ukraine but for democracies worldwide. She said 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, quoted a statement by Churchill regarding appeasement as "one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last". He continued: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe faces a choice between compromise and principles. A critical juncture for the European Union."