Reaction Backlash as Ukraine sees echoes of 1938 Munich deal

The “peace plan” being pushed by the US to end the Ukraine war has so far been greeted by a furious backlash from Ukrainians, who described it as reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 Munich agreement with Adolf Hitler.

- Luke Harding

Ukrainian reaction to the text, drawn up by Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Trump's representative, Steve Witkoff, has been overwhelmingly hostile. Commentators said it was a blueprint for another Russian invasion: not only of Ukraine but of other parts of Europe as well.

Trump has given Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thursday to sign the 28-point document. 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.

Mustafa Nayyem, a journalist and politician who led Ukraine’s 2014 pro-democracy Maidan revolution, said it invited parallels with Chamberlain’s infamous Munich deal with Hitler. Trump's peace plan came from the same “recognisable genre”, he said, with the victim invited “to formulate his own defeat so everyone else can live easier”.