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Former President Trump remarked this past weekend that his Moscow-drafted proposal for peace was "not my final offer", after strong criticism from Ukraine's officials and commentators that likened it to a Munich pact of 1938 between Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

During short remarks at the White House, the US president told journalists: "We’d like to get to peace. It should’ve happened a long time ago … we’re trying to get it ended, in any case we have to get it ended."

Upcoming Switzerland Talks Include Various Nations

US and Ukrainian delegates are scheduled to meet in Switzerland on Sunday for discussions on the plan. Security officials from Germany, France, and the UK are expected to join the talks there.

Prior to these discussions, American lawmakers told media outlets that State Department head Rubio reached out to them while en route to Geneva for clarification on the details of this disclosed proposal. He said, the proposal "was not the administration’s plan" but instead reflected Russian desires, as reported by independent Maine senator Angus King, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Critical Deadline

Nevertheless, Trump has set Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to sign this multi-point agreement. It calls on Kyiv to give up land it currently controls to Moscow, downsize the size of its army, and surrender advanced weaponry. Additionally, it excludes international peacekeepers and sanctions for atrocities committed by Russia.

During a solemn address on Friday, Zelenskyy warned that Ukraine faces a difficult decision over the coming days involving keeping the nation's honor and losing key ally like the United States. He admitted that it faces one of the most difficult moments in its history.

Ukrainian Dialogue Team Formed for Upcoming Talks

Speaking this weekend, the president said that real or respectable peace was always based on "guaranteed security and justice". He revealed a negotiating team, appointed through a decree, that would soon meet its US counterparts in Switzerland, headed by top aide Yermak.

A additional delegate of the Ukrainian delegation, former defence minister and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, stated they will hold discussions with the US "on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement".

Suggesting red lines, Umerov added: Ukraine enters these talks with defined goals. This represents a continuation of recent discussions focused on harmonizing our plans for future actions."

International Reaction and Concerns

The Ukrainian president has attempted to engage constructively with the US administration seemingly determined to resolve the war based on Russian conditions. He has made clear that he will not surrender Ukraine’s sovereignty or abandon a constitution that protects Ukraine's territorial integrity.

During a summit held in South Africa, G20 leaders and the European Council issued a collective declaration opposing the proposed deal, saying it requires "additional work". The statement indicated that EU and Nato members must be involved on some of its provisions, that exclude Kyiv’s Nato membership and impose terms on its future EU accession.

Public Opinion in Kyiv

Responses from Ukrainians to the text, drawn up by a Russian representative and a US delegate, have been largely negative. Analysts said it was a blueprint for further Russian aggression: not only of Ukraine but of other parts of Europe as well.

Mustafa Nayyem, a public figure who led the 2014 Maidan protests, remarked 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 expressed his anger by the complete pardon for Russian atrocities. This offended people who had hidden in basements in affected cities – where Russian troops executed hundreds of civilians – and families of deported children to Russian territory. "A rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

In an interview in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Sariskyi, a young adult, said that Moscow had been trying to dominate Ukraine "for years". The agreement offered very little in the Trump agreement and continued to keep its forces on Ukrainian soil. In my view, this deal aims to undermine Ukraine and impose unfair terms, he said.

Should Ukraine accept the terms Kyiv would be forced to give up its freedoms, he added. If rejected, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a vital resource of battlefield information for Ukraine's forces. "There is no good way out of this for now," he remarked.

Varied Perspectives from the Public

Another passenger, teenager Sofia Barchan, said that the country would remain resilient lacking US backing. "We will fight for as long as it takes. Crimea and the eastern regions are part of Ukraine. It belongs to Ukraine." She expressed Zelenskyy was a "smart person" and predicted he would not cede territory.

While speaking in the rain, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Ivanovna said she was grateful to the former US leader for his peace-making efforts. She said that Ukraine should be ready ceding certain regions for a limited time if it ensured maintaining US support. The president should conduct a public vote on this matter, she said.

European Officials Criticize the Plan

Former European heads of state have strongly criticized the plan. Ex-PM of Finland Marin described it as a disaster, not only for Ukraine and Ukrainians but for democracies worldwide. She warned if Western nations display vulnerability – as it did in 2014 when Putin annexed Crimea – further hostilities could arise.

Belgium's ex-PM, Guy Verhofstadt, quoted Churchill’s definition regarding appeasement as "one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last". He added: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe must choose again: appeasement or our values, imperialism or freedom. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."