Donald Trump said on Saturday that his Moscow-drafted \u201cpeace plan\u201d was \u201cnot my final offer\u201d, after a furious backlash from Ukrainians who described it as reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain\u2019s 1938 Munich agreement with Adolf Hitler.<\/p>\n
The US president told reporters during brief remarks at the White House: \u201cWe\u2019d like to get to peace. It should\u2019ve happened a long time ago \u2026 we\u2019re trying to get it ended, one way or the other we have to get it ended.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ukrainian and American officials will meet in Switzerland on Sunday for talks to discuss the plan. Security officials from France, Britain and Germany are expected to join them in Geneva.<\/p>\n
In the build-up to the talks, US senators told US media that secretary of state Marco Rubio contacted them<\/a> while en route to Geneva to clarify the nature of the leaked plan. He said the proposal \u201cwas not the administration\u2019s plan\u201d but a \u201cwish list of the Russians\u201d, according to independent Maine senator Angus King, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Trump has given Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to sign the 28-point document<\/a>. It calls on Kyiv to give up territory it currently controls to Russia, reduce the size of its army and relinquish long-range weapons. It also rules out a European peacekeeping force and sanctions for Russian war crimes.<\/p>\n In a sombre address on Friday, Zelenskyy warned his country faces an impossible choice over the coming days between keeping its national dignity and losing a major partner in the shape of the US. It faces one of the most difficult moments in its history, he admitted.<\/p>\n Speaking on Saturday, Zelenskyy said real or \u201cdignified\u201d peace was always based on \u201cguaranteed security and justice\u201d. He announced a negotiating team, appointed by presidential decree, that would soon meet its US counterparts in Geneva, led by his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.<\/p>\n Another member of the Ukrainian delegation, former defence minister and national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, said there would be consultations with Washington \u201con the possible parameters of a future peace agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n Hinting at red lines, Umerov added: \u201cUkraine approaches this process with a clear understanding of its interests. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Zelenskyy has sought to engage constructively with a White House seemingly determined to end the conflict on the Kremlin\u2019s one-sided terms. He has made clear he cannot give up Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty or abandon a constitution that enshrines the country\u2019s current borders.<\/p>\n At a meeting in South Africa, G20 leaders and the European Council issued a joint statement pushing back on Trump\u2019s plan, saying it needs \u201cadditional work\u201d. It said EU and Nato members would need to be consulted on some of its provisions, which rule out Kyiv\u2019s Nato membership and put conditions on its future EU accession.<\/p>\n