🔗 Share this article

Ex-leader Donald Trump remarked on Saturday that the Russian-prepared proposal for peace was not his ultimate proposal, after strong reaction from Ukrainian leaders and analysts who compared it to a 1938 Munich agreement between Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.

During brief remarks from the White House, the US president informed journalists: "We’d like to get to peace. This should have occurred earlier … we are attempting to conclude it, one way or the other it must be resolved."

Upcoming Geneva Negotiations Include Multiple Countries

Ukrainian and American delegates will meet in Geneva this Sunday for discussions on the plan. Defense representatives from Germany, France, and the UK will also participate in the talks there.

Prior to the talks, American lawmakers informed media outlets that Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted them during his travel to Geneva to clarify the nature of this disclosed proposal. According to him, the proposal "was not the administration’s plan" but rather reflected Russian desires, according to independent Maine senator King, a member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Zelenskyy Confronts Critical Time Limit

However, the former president has set Volodymyr Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday for signing the 28-point document. The document requires Kyiv to give up land it currently controls to Russia, downsize its military forces, and surrender long-range weapons. Additionally, it rules out a European peacekeeping force and penalties for atrocities committed by Russia.

During a solemn speech last Friday, Zelenskyy warned that his country confronts a difficult decision over the coming days between keeping its national dignity and losing a major partner like the United States. Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine is experiencing an extremely challenging period historically.

Ukrainian Negotiating Team Formed for Geneva Talks

Speaking this weekend, Zelenskyy said that real or "dignified" resolution depends on assured safety and fairness. He announced a negotiating team, appointed through a decree, that would soon meet American representatives in Geneva, led by his chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

A additional delegate of the Ukrainian delegation, ex-defense head and security council official Rustem Umerov, stated there would be discussions with Washington regarding potential terms for a peace deal.

Suggesting 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 participate positively with a White House apparently intent to resolve the war on the Kremlin’s one-sided terms. He has emphasized he cannot give up the nation's independence or abandon a constitution that enshrines Ukraine's territorial integrity.

During a summit in South Africa, leaders from the G20 and EU representatives released a collective declaration opposing the proposed deal, stating it requires "additional work". It said that EU and Nato members must be involved on some of its provisions, that exclude Kyiv’s Nato membership and put conditions on its European Union membership.

Citizen Views in Ukraine's Capital

Ukrainian reaction to the proposal, drawn up by a Russian representative and Trump’s representative, have been largely negative. Analysts argued it outlined a plan for further Russian aggression: not only of Ukraine but of other parts of Europe too.

Mustafa Nayyem, a public figure who led the 2014 Maidan protests, remarked it drew comparisons with Chamberlain’s infamous Munich deal. 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 expressed he was outraged by the complete pardon for Russian atrocities. It was an insult people who had hidden in basements in Bucha or Mariupol – sites of civilian executions – and for those whose children had been forcibly deported to Russia. A deeply cynical deal, he stated.

In an interview in Kyiv’s Golden Gate metro station, Sariskyi, 21, commented that Russia has attempted 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 said.

If Zelenskyy signed off on the proposals it would be compelled to give up its freedoms, he added. If rejected, the US would most likely break off cooperation and intelligence sharing, a vital resource of military intelligence for Ukraine's forces. Currently, there is no favorable solution, he noted.

Varied Perspectives from Ukrainian Citizens

Another passenger, teenager Sofia Barchan, said that Ukraine would remain resilient lacking US backing. We will continue our struggle as needed. Our territory will remain our territory, including Crimea and the east. It belongs to Ukraine." She expressed Zelenskyy was a "smart person" 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 mentioned she was grateful to the former US leader for his peace-making efforts. She said that the nation should be ready ceding Crimea and the eastern Donbas region for a limited time if it ensured maintaining US support. The president should conduct a public vote on this matter, she said.

EU Leaders Criticize the Plan

Former European heads of state have strongly criticized this proposal. Finland’s former prime minister Marin described it as a disaster, not only for Ukraine and Ukrainians but for "all of the democratic world". She warned if Western nations display vulnerability – similar to the 2014 Crimea annexation – further hostilities could arise.

The former prime minister of Belgium, 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."