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Former President Donald Trump indicated on Saturday that his Moscow-drafted peace plan was "not my final offer", after strong backlash from Ukrainian leaders and analysts that compared it to a 1938 Munich agreement involving Neville Chamberlain and Hitler.

During brief comments at the White House, Trump told reporters: Our goal is to achieve peace. It should’ve happened a long time ago … we are attempting to conclude it, in any case it must be resolved."

Forthcoming Switzerland Talks Involve Various Nations

Ukrainian and American officials are scheduled to meet in Switzerland this Sunday for discussions on the plan. Security officials from France, Britain and Germany will also participate in the talks there.

Prior to the talks, US senators told the press that Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached out to them while en route to Switzerland to clarify the details of the leaked plan. He said, this plan "was not the administration’s plan" but rather a "wish list of the Russians", as reported by independent Maine senator Angus King, a member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Zelenskyy Confronts Crucial Deadline

Nevertheless, the former president has set Zelenskyy until Thursday to sign the 28-point document. The document requires Kyiv to give up land it currently controls to Moscow, downsize its military forces, and relinquish long-range weapons. Additionally, it rules out a European peacekeeping force and penalties for atrocities committed by Russia.

During a solemn speech last Friday, the Ukrainian leader warned that Ukraine confronts a difficult decision in the near future between keeping the nation's honor and forfeiting key ally in the shape of the US. Zelenskyy acknowledged that it faces an extremely challenging period in its history.

Ukraine's Dialogue Team Formed for Geneva Talks

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

A additional delegate of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-defense head and security council official Rustem Umerov, stated they will hold discussions with the US "on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement".

Hinting at red lines, Umerov 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."

Global Reaction and Concerns

The Ukrainian president has sought to engage constructively with a White House apparently intent to resolve the war based on Russian conditions. He has made clear that he will not surrender Ukraine’s sovereignty or disregard the constitutional framework that protects the country’s current borders.

During a summit in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and EU representatives issued a collective declaration pushing back on the proposed deal, saying it requires further refinement. It said that EU and Nato members would need to be consulted regarding certain clauses, that exclude Kyiv’s Nato membership and put conditions on its future EU accession.

Public Opinion in Kyiv

Ukrainian reaction to the text, prepared by a Russian representative and a US delegate, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Analysts argued it was a blueprint for further Russian aggression: not only of Ukraine but other European regions too.

Nayyem, a journalist and politician who led Ukraine’s 2014 pro-democracy Maidan revolution, remarked it invited parallels with the Munich Agreement. Trumps’s peace plan belonged to a similar category, with the victim invited to outline its own surrender for broader convenience.

In a Facebook post, Nayyem expressed his anger by its "full" amnesty for Russian war crimes. This offended those who sought shelter in Bucha or Mariupol – sites of civilian executions – and for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russia. "A rather cynical agreement," he stated.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Dmytro Sariskyi, a young adult, commented that Russia had been trying to dominate Ukraine over many years. It conceded very little in the proposed deal 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.

If Zelenskyy signed off on the proposals it would be compelled to give up its freedoms, he added. If rejected, the US would most likely break off cooperation and intelligence sharing, a vital resource of battlefield information for frontline Ukrainian troops. "There is no good way out of this for now," he noted.

Varied Perspectives from Ukrainian Citizens

A different commuter, 19-year-old Sofia Barchan, asserted that Ukraine would remain resilient without American support. "We will fight for as long as it takes. Crimea and the eastern regions are part of Ukraine. It belongs to Ukraine." She expressed that the president is intelligent and forecasted he would not cede territory.

While speaking during rainfall, near a historical monument, Olena Ivanovna said she was grateful to the former US leader for his peace-making efforts. She suggested that Ukraine should be ready to give away Crimea and the eastern Donbas region temporarily if it ensured maintaining US support. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she proposed.

EU Officials Criticize the Proposal

Previous European leaders have roundly condemned the plan. Finland’s former prime minister Marin called it a disaster, not only for Ukraine and Ukrainians but for "all of the democratic world". 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 of an appeaser 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. A critical juncture for the European Union."