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Former President Donald Trump stated on Saturday that the Russian-prepared peace plan was "not my final offer", after fierce backlash from Ukraine's officials and commentators who likened it to the Munich pact of 1938 involving Chamberlain and Hitler.

In short comments at the White House, the US president informed reporters: "We’d like to get to peace. This should have occurred earlier … we’re trying to get it ended, one way or the other we have to get it ended."

Forthcoming Geneva Negotiations Include Various Countries

US and Ukrainian officials will meet in Switzerland this Sunday to discuss the plan. Defense representatives from Germany, France, and the UK will also participate in these negotiations there.

Ahead of these discussions, US senators told the press that Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted them during his travel to Geneva for clarification on the nature of this disclosed proposal. He said, this plan "was not the administration’s plan" but instead reflected Russian desires, according to Senator King, a member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Critical Time Limit

Nevertheless, the former president has set Zelenskyy until Thursday for signing this multi-point agreement. The document requires Ukraine to cede land it currently controls to Russia, reduce its military forces, and surrender advanced weaponry. It also excludes a European peacekeeping force and penalties for atrocities committed by Russia.

During a solemn speech on Friday, the Ukrainian leader cautioned that Ukraine confronts an impossible choice over the coming days involving preserving the nation's honor and forfeiting key ally like the United States. Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine is experiencing one of the most difficult moments historically.

Ukraine's Dialogue Team Formed for Upcoming Talks

In comments on Saturday, the president said that real or "dignified" resolution was always based on "guaranteed security and justice". He revealed a negotiating team, appointed by presidential decree, that would soon meet American representatives in Geneva, headed by top aide Andriy Yermak.

Another member from Ukraine's team, ex-defense head and security council official Rustem Umerov, said they will hold consultations 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."

Global Reaction and Concerns

Zelenskyy has attempted to participate positively with the US administration apparently intent to resolve the war based on Russian conditions. He has emphasized he cannot give up Ukraine’s sovereignty or disregard a constitution that protects the country’s current borders.

During a summit 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 would need to be consulted regarding certain clauses, which rule out Ukraine's NATO accession and impose terms on its European Union membership.

Citizen Views in Kyiv

Responses from Ukrainians to the proposal, drawn up by a Russian representative and a US delegate, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Commentators argued it outlined a plan for another Russian invasion: not only of Ukraine but other European regions as well.

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

On social media, Nayyem expressed his anger 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 for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russian territory. "A rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

In an interview in a Kyiv subway station, Sariskyi, 21, said that Russia has attempted to control Ukraine politically and territorially over many years. The agreement offered "barely anything" in the Trump agreement and maintained its forces on Ukrainian soil. "I think the deal is an attempt to break Ukraine and force unjust conditions on us," he remarked.

Should Ukraine accept the terms Kyiv would be forced to sacrifice its liberties, he said. If it didn’t, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a crucial source of battlefield information for frontline Ukrainian troops. Currently, there is no favorable solution, he remarked.

Varied Viewpoints from Ukrainian Citizens

Another passenger, teenager Barchan, asserted that the country would "keep strong" without American support. 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 forecasted he would not cede territory.

While speaking during rainfall, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Olena Ivanovna mentioned she was grateful to the former US leader for his attempts to broker peace. She suggested that Ukraine should be ready ceding certain regions temporarily if it ensured keeping America as a partner. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she proposed.

European Officials Condemn the Plan

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 democracies worldwide. She said if Western nations display vulnerability – as it did in 2014 when Putin annexed Crimea – "more aggression and conflicts" could arise.

Belgium's ex-PM, Verhofstadt, referenced a statement by Churchill regarding appeasement as someone who accommodates an aggressor. He continued: Trump aligns with Putin. Europe faces a choice between compromise and principles. A critical juncture for the European Union."