JOHANNESBURG/KYIV - European and other Western leaders meeting on the sidelines of a G20 summit scrambled on Saturday to come up with a coordinated response to U.S. President Donald Trump's demand for Ukraine to accept his peace plan with Russia by Thursday.

The U.S. plan, which endorses key Russian demands, was met with measured criticism in many European capitals, with leaders trying to balance praise for Trump for trying to end the fighting, but also recognising that for Kyiv, some of the terms in his proposal are unpalatable.