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Ex-leader Trump indicated this past weekend that the Moscow-drafted proposal for peace constituted not his ultimate proposal, following intense reaction from Ukrainian officials and commentators who compared it to a 1938 Munich agreement between Neville Chamberlain and Hitler.

During brief remarks at the White House, the US president informed reporters: "We’d like to get to 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 Include Various Countries

Ukrainian and American delegates will meet in Switzerland this Sunday for discussions on this proposal. Security officials from France, Britain and Germany will also participate in the talks there.

Ahead of the talks, American lawmakers told the press that Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted them while en route to Geneva for clarification on the nature of this disclosed proposal. He said, the proposal did not originate from the administration but rather a "wish list of the Russians", as reported by independent Maine senator Angus King, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Zelenskyy Faces Critical Deadline

However, Trump has set Volodymyr Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday for signing the 28-point document. The document requires Ukraine to give up land it currently controls to Moscow, downsize its military forces, and surrender advanced weaponry. It also 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 faces a difficult decision in the near future between keeping the nation's honor and forfeiting a major partner like the United States. Zelenskyy acknowledged that it faces an extremely challenging period historically.

Ukraine's Negotiating Delegation Appointed for Upcoming Meetings

In comments this weekend, the president emphasized that genuine or respectable resolution depends on assured safety and fairness. He announced a negotiating team, established through a decree, that would soon meet its US counterparts in Geneva, led by top aide Yermak.

Another member of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-defense head and security council official Rustem Umerov, stated they will hold consultations with Washington regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Suggesting 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 Concerns

The Ukrainian president has attempted to engage constructively with the US administration apparently intent to end the conflict on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has made clear he cannot give up the nation's independence or disregard the constitutional framework that protects the country’s current borders.

During a summit in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and the European Council released a joint statement pushing back on Trump’s plan, stating it requires "additional work". It said that EU and Nato members 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 text, prepared by a Russian representative and Trump’s representative, have been largely negative. Analysts said it outlined a plan for further Russian aggression: targeting not just Ukraine but of other parts of Europe too.

Mustafa Nayyem, a public figure involved in Ukraine’s 2014 pro-democracy Maidan revolution, said 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, he expressed he was outraged by its "full" amnesty for Russian war crimes. This offended people who had hidden in basements in affected cities – where Russian troops executed hundreds of civilians – and families of deported children to Russia. A deeply cynical deal, he concluded.

Speaking in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Dmytro Sariskyi, a young adult, said that Russia had been trying to dominate Ukraine "for years". It conceded very little in the Trump agreement and continued to keep its forces on Ukrainian soil. In my view, this deal aims to undermine Ukraine and impose unfair terms, 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 Ukraine's forces. Currently, there is no favorable solution, he remarked.

Diverse Viewpoints from the Public

Another passenger, teenager Barchan, said that Ukraine would remain resilient without American support. We will continue our struggle as needed. Our territory will remain our territory, including Crimea and the east. It belongs to Ukraine." She said Zelenskyy was a "smart person" and forecasted he would not cede territory.

Speaking during rainfall, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Ivanovna said she was grateful to Trump for his peace-making efforts. She said that Ukraine ought to consider ceding Crimea and the eastern Donbas region for a limited time if it meant keeping America as a partner. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she said.

European Leaders Criticize the Plan

Former European heads of state have roundly condemned this proposal. Finland’s former prime minister Marin described it as a catastrophe, not only for Ukraine and Ukrainians 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, Verhofstadt, referenced Churchill’s definition of an appeaser as "one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last". He added: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe faces a choice between compromise and principles. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."