Diplomatic efforts by President Donald Trump to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine have drawn comparisons to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement toward Nazi Germany in the late 1930s.
Critics voiced concerns that Trump's approach favored Russian President Vladimir Putin, potentially compromising Ukraine's sovereignty and security, the Daily Mail reported.
Trump said Wednesday that Putin agreed to peace negotiations.
Trump's messaging on Ukraine has raised alarms among European leaders and Ukrainian officials, who fear that such concessions will lead to Russian aggression, reported Politico UK.
Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt accused Trump of betraying Ukraine.
"It's certainly an innovative approach to a negotiation to make very major concessions even before they have started," Bildt said. "Not even Chamberlain went that low in 1938. That Munich ended very bad anyhow."
Bildt drew a comparison between Trump's words and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's 1938 Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler.
The deal later failed to prevent further aggression and led to World War II.
Leaders will meet on Friday at a security conference held in Germany to discuss a possible peace deal involving Ukraine.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
As fears grow over Putin's ambitions to expand in Europe and Ukraine, former UK defense secretary Ben Wallace said he does not trust Putin to honor a negotiation.
"I don't trust Putin an inch," Wallace said in an interview with Times Radio. "Without any form of mechanism or indeed guarantees, he'll be back."
"He will rearm and he will be back. His stated aim is that Ukraine doesn't really exist," Wallace said. "He believes it's part of greater Russia. So he will be back."
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied that Trump's peace plan is not throwing Ukraine under the bus.
"There is no betrayal there," Hegseth said.
