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Ex-leader Trump remarked on Saturday that his Russian-prepared proposal for peace constituted not his ultimate proposal, following intense criticism from Ukraine's leaders and commentators who compared it to a Munich pact of 1938 involving Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

During brief remarks from 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 it must be resolved."

Forthcoming Geneva Negotiations Involve Multiple Countries

US and Ukrainian delegates will meet in Geneva on Sunday for discussions on the plan. Defense representatives from Germany, France, and the UK will also participate in these negotiations in Geneva.

Ahead of the talks, US senators told the press that Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached out to them while en route to Geneva to clarify the details of this disclosed proposal. According to him, the proposal "was not the administration’s plan" but instead reflected Russian desires, as reported by Senator Angus King, a member on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Zelenskyy Confronts Critical Deadline

However, Trump has given Zelenskyy until Thursday for signing the 28-point document. It calls on Ukraine to give up land it currently controls to Moscow, downsize its military forces, and relinquish advanced weaponry. It also rules out a European peacekeeping force and penalties for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn speech last Friday, the Ukrainian leader cautioned that his country confronts a difficult decision over the coming days involving preserving the nation's honor and losing key ally like the United States. Zelenskyy acknowledged that it faces an extremely challenging period in its history.

Ukrainian Negotiating Team Formed for Geneva Meetings

In comments on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that real or "dignified" peace was always based on assured safety and fairness. He announced a negotiating team, established through a decree, which will meet its US counterparts in Geneva, led by top aide Andriy Yermak.

A additional delegate from Ukraine's team, ex-defense head and security council official Rustem Umerov, stated there would be consultations with the US "on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement".

Suggesting red lines, he added: 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."

International Response and Concerns

Zelenskyy has sought to participate positively with a White House seemingly determined to end the conflict based on Russian conditions. He has made clear he cannot give up the nation's independence or disregard the constitutional framework that enshrines Ukraine's territorial integrity.

During a summit in South Africa, G20 leaders and the European Council issued a joint statement pushing back on Trump’s plan, saying it needs "additional work". It said that members of the EU and NATO must be involved on some of its provisions, which rule out Ukraine's NATO accession and put conditions on its European Union membership.

Public Opinion in Kyiv

Ukrainian reaction to the proposal, prepared by a Russian representative and a US delegate, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Analysts argued it was a blueprint for further Russian aggression: targeting not just Ukraine but other European regions as well.

Mustafa Nayyem, a public figure involved in the 2014 Maidan protests, remarked 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 families of deported children to Russian territory. "A rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Sariskyi, 21, commented that Moscow had been trying to control Ukraine politically and territorially "for years". It conceded "barely anything" 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 said.

If Zelenskyy signed off on the proposals Kyiv would be forced to give up its freedoms, he added. 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.

Diverse Perspectives from Ukrainian Citizens

A different commuter, teenager Sofia Barchan, asserted that Ukraine would "keep strong" lacking US backing. "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 expressed that the president is intelligent and forecasted he would not give up Ukrainian land.

Speaking in the rain, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Olena Ivanovna said her appreciation to Trump for his attempts to broker peace. She suggested that the nation ought to consider to give away Crimea and the eastern Donbas region temporarily if it ensured keeping America as a partner. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she said.

European Officials Criticize the Plan

Former European heads of state have strongly criticized this proposal. Ex-PM of Finland Sanna Marin called it a catastrophe, affecting not just Ukraine but for "all of the democratic world". She warned if Western nations display vulnerability – similar to the 2014 Crimea annexation – "more aggression and conflicts" could arise.

The former prime minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, quoted a statement by Churchill of an appeaser as someone who accommodates an aggressor. He added: Trump aligns with Putin. Europe faces a choice between compromise and principles. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."