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Ex-leader Donald Trump indicated on Saturday that the Russian-prepared peace plan was not his ultimate proposal, following intense reaction from Ukraine's leaders and analysts that likened it to the 1938 Munich agreement between Neville Chamberlain and Hitler.

In brief remarks at the White House, the US president informed reporters: Our goal is to achieve peace. It should’ve happened a long time ago … we’re trying to get it ended, in any case we have to get it ended."

Forthcoming Switzerland Negotiations Include Multiple Nations

Ukrainian and American officials will meet in Switzerland this Sunday to discuss the plan. Defense representatives from Germany, France, and the UK will also participate in these negotiations there.

Ahead of these discussions, American lawmakers informed the press that State Department head Marco Rubio reached out to them during his travel to Switzerland for clarification on the nature of this disclosed proposal. He said, the proposal "was not the administration’s plan" but rather a "wish list of the Russians", as reported by independent Maine senator King, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine's President Confronts Crucial Deadline

However, the former president has given Volodymyr Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday for signing this multi-point agreement. The document requires Ukraine to give up territory under its control to Moscow, downsize the size of its army, and relinquish advanced weaponry. It also rules out a European peacekeeping force and sanctions for Russian war crimes.

During a solemn speech last Friday, Zelenskyy cautioned that his country faces an impossible choice in the near future involving preserving its national dignity and forfeiting key ally in the shape of the US. Zelenskyy acknowledged that it faces one of the most difficult moments historically.

Ukraine's Negotiating Team Appointed for Geneva Talks

Speaking on Saturday, the president said that real or "dignified" peace was always based on "guaranteed security and justice". He revealed a delegation, established through a decree, that would soon meet its US counterparts in Switzerland, headed by top aide Yermak.

Another member from Ukraine's team, ex-defense head and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, said there would be consultations with the US regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Hinting at limits, Umerov added: Ukraine enters these talks with defined goals. This represents a continuation of recent discussions focused on harmonizing our plans for future actions."

International Reaction and Criticism

Zelenskyy has attempted to engage constructively with the US administration seemingly determined to end the conflict on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has made clear he cannot give up Ukraine’s sovereignty or abandon the constitutional framework that enshrines Ukraine's territorial integrity.

During a summit in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and the European Council issued a joint statement opposing Trump’s plan, saying it requires further refinement. The statement indicated that EU and Nato members must be involved on some of its provisions, that exclude Ukraine's NATO accession and impose terms on its future EU accession.

Citizen Views in Ukraine's Capital

Ukrainian reaction to the proposal, prepared by Putin’s envoy and Trump’s representative, have been largely negative. Analysts said it was a blueprint for further Russian aggression: targeting not just Ukraine but of other parts of Europe as well.

Mustafa 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 came from the same "recognisable genre", with the victim invited "to formulate his own defeat so everyone else can live easier".

On social media, he 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 for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russia. "A rather cynical agreement," he concluded.

Speaking in a Kyiv subway station, Sariskyi, a young adult, commented that Russia had been trying to control Ukraine politically and territorially over many years. It conceded "barely anything" in the proposed deal and continued to keep its forces on Ukrainian soil. "I think the deal is an attempt to break Ukraine and force unjust conditions on us," he remarked.

Should Ukraine accept the terms Kyiv would be forced to sacrifice its liberties, he added. If rejected, the US would most likely break off cooperation and intelligence sharing, a vital resource of battlefield information for frontline Ukrainian troops. "There is no good way out of this for now," he remarked.

Varied Viewpoints from the Public

Another passenger, 19-year-old Sofia Barchan, asserted that Ukraine would "keep strong" lacking US backing. We will continue our struggle as needed. Our territory will remain our territory, including Crimea and the east. They are Ukrainian land." She said that the president is intelligent and predicted he would not give up Ukrainian land.

While speaking during rainfall, next to a replica of Kyiv’s original medieval gate, Olena Ivanovna mentioned she was grateful to the former US leader for his peace-making efforts. She said that the nation ought to consider ceding Crimea and the eastern Donbas region for a limited time if it ensured maintaining US support. "President Zelenskyy should hold a referendum and ask the people," she said.

EU Officials Condemn the Plan

Former European heads of state have roundly condemned this proposal. Ex-PM of Finland Sanna Marin called it a catastrophe, affecting not just Ukraine but for democracies worldwide. She said 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, Verhofstadt, quoted a statement by Churchill regarding appeasement as "one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last". He continued: "Trump now takes Putin’s side. Europe must choose again: appeasement or our values, imperialism or freedom. Another moment of truth for our [European] union."