🔗 Share this article

Ex-leader Trump stated on Saturday that his Moscow-drafted proposal for peace was "not my final offer", following intense criticism from Ukrainian officials and commentators who likened it to the 1938 Munich agreement involving Chamberlain and Hitler.

In brief remarks from the White House, the US president 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 Nations

Ukrainian and American officials are scheduled to meet in Geneva this Sunday to discuss this proposal. Security officials from Germany, France, and the UK will also participate in these negotiations there.

Ahead of these discussions, American lawmakers informed media outlets that Secretary of State Rubio contacted them while en route to Switzerland to clarify the details of the leaked plan. He said, the proposal did not originate from the administration but instead a "wish list of the Russians", as reported by independent Maine senator Angus King, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Faces Crucial Time Limit

Nevertheless, Trump has set Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to sign this multi-point agreement. It calls on Ukraine to give up land it currently controls to Moscow, reduce its military forces, and surrender advanced weaponry. It also excludes international peacekeepers and sanctions for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn speech last Friday, Zelenskyy cautioned that Ukraine faces an impossible choice over the coming days between keeping the nation's honor and losing key ally in the shape of the US. Zelenskyy acknowledged that it faces one of the most difficult moments in its history.

Ukraine's Negotiating Team Appointed for Geneva Talks

Speaking this weekend, Zelenskyy said that real or "dignified" resolution depends on assured safety and fairness. He announced a negotiating team, established through a decree, which will meet American representatives in Geneva, led by his chief of staff 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 limits, Umerov noted: "Ukraine approaches this process with a clear understanding of its interests. This represents a continuation of recent discussions focused on harmonizing our plans for future actions."

Global Response and Concerns

Zelenskyy has sought to participate positively with a White House seemingly determined to end the conflict on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has emphasized he cannot give up Ukraine’s sovereignty or disregard a constitution that enshrines the country’s current borders.

During a summit held in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and EU representatives issued a collective declaration pushing back on the proposed deal, stating it needs 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 European Union membership.

Public Opinion in Ukraine's Capital

Responses from Ukrainians to the proposal, prepared by Putin’s envoy and a US delegate, have been largely negative. Analysts argued it was a blueprint for further Russian aggression: targeting not just Ukraine but other European regions too.

Mustafa Nayyem, a journalist and politician who led the 2014 Maidan protests, remarked it drew comparisons with the Munich Agreement. Trumps’s peace plan belonged to the same "recognisable genre", with the victim invited to outline its own surrender for broader convenience.

In a Facebook post, Nayyem said his anger by its "full" amnesty for Russian war crimes. This offended people who had hidden in basements in Bucha or Mariupol – where Russian troops executed hundreds of civilians – and for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russia. A deeply cynical deal, he stated.

In an interview in a Kyiv subway station, Sariskyi, 21, said that Moscow has attempted to dominate Ukraine "for years". It conceded very little in the Trump agreement and continued to keep 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 added. If it didn’t, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a vital resource of battlefield information for Ukraine's forces. "There is no good way out of this for now," he noted.

Varied Perspectives from the Public

A different commuter, teenager Barchan, asserted that the country would "keep strong" without American support. "We will fight for as long as it takes. Our territory will remain our territory, including Crimea and the east. They are Ukrainian land." She expressed Zelenskyy was a "smart person" and predicted he would not give up Ukrainian land.

While speaking in the rain, near a historical monument, Olena Ivanovna mentioned she was grateful to the former US leader for his attempts to broker peace. She said that Ukraine should be ready to give away Crimea and the eastern Donbas region temporarily if it meant keeping America as a partner. The president should conduct a public vote on this matter, she proposed.

EU Officials Criticize the Plan

Former European heads of state have strongly criticized the plan. Ex-PM of Finland Sanna 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 – "more aggression and conflicts" would follow.

The former prime minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, quoted 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. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."