🔗 Share this article

Ex-leader Trump remarked on Saturday that the Moscow-drafted proposal for peace was not his ultimate proposal, following intense backlash from Ukraine's leaders and commentators that compared it to the Munich pact of 1938 involving Chamberlain and Hitler.

In short comments from the White House, Trump told reporters: Our goal is to achieve peace. This should have occurred earlier … we are attempting to conclude it, in any case we have to get it ended."

Forthcoming Geneva Talks Include Various Countries

Ukrainian and American delegates will meet in Geneva on Sunday to discuss this proposal. Security officials from France, Britain and Germany are expected to join the talks there.

Ahead of these discussions, American lawmakers informed media outlets that Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted them during his travel to Geneva for clarification on the details of the leaked plan. According to him, this plan did not originate from the administration but rather reflected Russian desires, according to independent Maine senator King, a member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Faces Critical Time Limit

However, the former president has given Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday for signing this multi-point agreement. It calls on Kyiv to cede land under its control to Moscow, reduce its military forces, and relinquish long-range weapons. It also excludes a European peacekeeping force and penalties for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn speech on Friday, Zelenskyy warned that Ukraine faces a difficult decision over the coming days involving preserving the nation's honor and losing key ally in the shape of the US. Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine is experiencing an extremely challenging period historically.

Ukraine's Negotiating Delegation Formed for Upcoming Talks

In comments on Saturday, the president emphasized that real or respectable peace depends on assured safety and fairness. He announced a negotiating team, appointed through a decree, which will meet its US counterparts in Switzerland, led by his chief of staff Yermak.

A additional delegate from Ukraine's team, ex-defense head and security council official Umerov, said there would be consultations with the US regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Suggesting limits, he added: "Ukraine approaches this process with a clear understanding of its interests. 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 Criticism

Zelenskyy has sought to engage constructively with the US administration seemingly determined to end the conflict based on Russian conditions. He has made clear that he will not surrender the nation's independence or abandon the constitutional framework that protects Ukraine's territorial integrity.

At a meeting in South Africa, G20 leaders and EU representatives released a collective declaration pushing back on Trump’s plan, saying it needs "additional work". It said that EU and Nato members would need to be consulted on some of its provisions, that exclude Kyiv’s Nato membership and put conditions on its European Union membership.

Citizen Opinion in Ukraine's Capital

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

Nayyem, a public figure who led the 2014 Maidan protests, remarked it invited parallels with the Munich Agreement. Trumps’s peace plan came from a similar category, where the affected party is asked "to formulate his own defeat so everyone else can live easier".

On social media, Nayyem expressed his anger by the complete pardon for Russian atrocities. It was an insult people who had hidden in basements in affected cities – sites of civilian executions – and families of deported children to Russia. A deeply cynical deal, he concluded.

In an interview in a Kyiv subway station, Dmytro Sariskyi, a young adult, commented that Russia had been trying to control Ukraine politically and territorially "for years". The agreement offered very little in the proposed deal 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 sacrifice its liberties, he added. If rejected, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a crucial source of military intelligence for frontline Ukrainian troops. "There is no good way out of this for now," he noted.

Varied Viewpoints from Ukrainian Citizens

A different commuter, 19-year-old Barchan, asserted that the country 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 give up Ukrainian land.

While speaking in the rain, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Ivanovna mentioned she was grateful to Trump for his peace-making efforts. She suggested that the nation ought to consider to give away certain regions for a limited time if it meant keeping America as a partner. The president should conduct a public vote on this matter, she proposed.

European Officials Condemn the Proposal

Former European heads of state have strongly criticized this proposal. Finland’s former prime minister Sanna Marin called it a catastrophe, affecting not just Ukraine but for democracies worldwide. She warned if Western nations display vulnerability – as it did in 2014 when Putin annexed Crimea – "more aggression and conflicts" would follow.

Belgium's ex-PM, Verhofstadt, referenced Churchill’s definition of an appeaser as someone who accommodates an aggressor. He added: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe faces a choice between compromise and principles. A critical juncture for the European Union."