🔗 Share this article

Ex-leader Trump remarked on Saturday that his Russian-prepared peace plan was not his ultimate proposal, after strong reaction from Ukrainian leaders and analysts who likened it to the Munich pact of 1938 involving Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

During short comments at the White House, the US president informed reporters: Our goal is to achieve peace. It should’ve happened a long time ago … we are attempting to conclude it, in any case we have to get it ended."

Forthcoming Switzerland Negotiations Involve Various Countries

Ukrainian and American delegates will meet in Geneva on Sunday to discuss this proposal. Defense representatives from France, Britain and Germany will also participate in the talks there.

Ahead of these discussions, US senators told the press that Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted them during his travel to Switzerland for clarification on the details of this disclosed proposal. According to him, this plan did not originate from the administration but rather reflected Russian desires, according to Senator Angus King, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Critical Time Limit

However, the former president has set Zelenskyy until Thursday to sign the 28-point document. The document requires Kyiv to give up territory under its control to Moscow, downsize the size of its army, and relinquish advanced weaponry. Additionally, it rules out a European peacekeeping force and sanctions for atrocities committed by Russia.

In a sombre speech last Friday, the Ukrainian leader warned that Ukraine confronts a difficult decision in the near future involving keeping its national dignity and forfeiting key ally in the shape of the US. Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine is experiencing one of the most difficult moments in its history.

Ukraine's Negotiating Team Appointed for Upcoming Meetings

In comments on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that real or respectable resolution depends on "guaranteed security and justice". He revealed a delegation, appointed through a decree, which will meet its US counterparts in Geneva, led by top aide Yermak.

A additional delegate from Ukraine's team, former defence minister and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, said they will hold consultations 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."

International Response and Criticism

The Ukrainian president has sought to engage constructively with a White House seemingly determined to end the conflict on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has made clear that he will not surrender Ukraine’s sovereignty or disregard the constitutional framework that enshrines the country’s current borders.

During a summit held in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and the European Council issued a collective declaration opposing Trump’s plan, stating it requires further refinement. The statement indicated that EU and Nato members must be involved regarding certain clauses, that exclude Ukraine's NATO accession and impose terms on its future EU accession.

Citizen Opinion in Kyiv

Ukrainian reaction to the text, 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 too.

Nayyem, a public figure who led Ukraine’s 2014 pro-democracy Maidan revolution, remarked it drew comparisons with Chamberlain’s infamous Munich deal. Trumps’s peace plan belonged to a similar category, where the affected party is asked to outline its own surrender for broader convenience.

In a Facebook post, he said he was outraged 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 for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russia. "A rather cynical agreement," he stated.

In an interview in a Kyiv subway station, Dmytro Sariskyi, 21, said that Moscow has attempted to control Ukraine politically and territorially "for years". It conceded "barely anything" in the proposed deal and continued to keep troops in Ukraine. In my view, this deal aims to undermine Ukraine and impose unfair terms, he remarked.

Should Ukraine accept the terms it would be compelled to sacrifice its liberties, he added. If rejected, the US might cease collaboration and intelligence exchange, a vital resource of battlefield information for frontline Ukrainian troops. Currently, there is no favorable solution, he remarked.

Varied Perspectives from the Public

Another passenger, teenager Barchan, said that Ukraine would remain resilient lacking US backing. "We will fight for as long as it takes. Crimea and the eastern regions are part of Ukraine. It belongs to Ukraine." She said that the president is intelligent and forecasted he would not cede territory.

Speaking in the rain, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Olena Ivanovna said she was grateful to Trump for his attempts to broker peace. She said that Ukraine should be ready ceding Crimea and the eastern Donbas region for a limited time if it ensured keeping America as a partner. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she proposed.

European Leaders Condemn the Proposal

Previous European leaders have roundly condemned this proposal. Finland’s former prime minister Sanna Marin described it as 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 – further hostilities would follow.

The former prime minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, referenced a statement by Churchill regarding appeasement as "one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last". He added: Trump aligns with Putin. Europe must choose again: appeasement or our values, imperialism or freedom. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."