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Ex-leader Trump remarked on Saturday that his Moscow-drafted peace plan was "not my final offer", following intense reaction from Ukraine's officials and commentators who likened it to the Munich pact of 1938 involving Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

In short remarks at the White House, Trump told journalists: Our goal is to achieve peace. This should have occurred earlier … we’re trying to get it ended, one way or the other we have to get it ended."

Upcoming Geneva Talks Involve Multiple Nations

US and Ukrainian delegates are scheduled to meet in Switzerland this Sunday to discuss the plan. Defense representatives from Germany, France, and the UK are expected to join the talks in Geneva.

Prior to these discussions, US senators informed the press that State Department head Marco Rubio reached out to them during his travel to Switzerland for clarification on 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 Faces Critical Time Limit

However, Trump has given Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday to sign the 28-point document. It calls on Ukraine to cede land it currently controls to Moscow, downsize the size of its army, and surrender long-range weapons. Additionally, it excludes international peacekeepers and penalties for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn address last Friday, Zelenskyy cautioned that Ukraine confronts a difficult decision over the coming days involving keeping the nation's honor and losing key ally in the shape of the US. Zelenskyy acknowledged that it faces an extremely challenging period in its history.

Ukrainian Dialogue Delegation Formed for Geneva Meetings

In comments this weekend, the president emphasized that genuine or "dignified" peace was always based on "guaranteed security and justice". He announced a delegation, established through a decree, that would soon meet American representatives in Geneva, headed by his chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

A additional delegate of the Ukrainian delegation, former defence minister and security council official Rustem Umerov, stated they will hold discussions with Washington regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Suggesting red lines, 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."

Global Response and Concerns

Zelenskyy has sought to engage constructively 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 the nation's independence or abandon the constitutional framework that enshrines the country’s current borders.

At a meeting held in South Africa, G20 leaders and the European Council issued a collective declaration pushing back on Trump’s plan, stating it needs "additional work". The statement indicated that EU and Nato members must be involved regarding certain clauses, which rule out Kyiv’s Nato membership and impose terms on its European Union membership.

Public Views in Ukraine's Capital

Ukrainian reaction to the proposal, prepared by a Russian representative and a US delegate, have been largely negative. Analysts argued it was a blueprint for another Russian invasion: targeting not just Ukraine but other European regions as well.

Mustafa Nayyem, a journalist and politician who led Ukraine’s 2014 pro-democracy Maidan revolution, said it invited parallels 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, he expressed his anger by the complete pardon for Russian atrocities. 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 rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Dmytro Sariskyi, 21, commented that Moscow had been trying to control Ukraine politically and territorially over many years. It conceded very little in the Trump agreement and maintained troops in Ukraine. "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 said. 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 remarked.

Diverse Perspectives from Ukrainian Citizens

Another passenger, 19-year-old 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. It belongs to Ukraine." She said that the president is intelligent and predicted he would not cede territory.

Speaking in the rain, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Olena Ivanovna mentioned she was grateful 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 for a limited time if it meant maintaining US support. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she said.

European Officials Criticize the Plan

Former European heads of state have roundly condemned this proposal. Ex-PM of Finland Sanna Marin described it as a catastrophe, affecting not just Ukraine but for "all of the democratic world". She said if Western nations display vulnerability – as it did in 2014 when Putin annexed Crimea – further hostilities would follow.

Belgium's ex-PM, Guy Verhofstadt, quoted a statement by Churchill of an appeaser as someone who accommodates an aggressor. He added: Trump aligns with Putin. Europe must choose again: appeasement or our values, imperialism or freedom. A critical juncture for the European Union."