Russia just tried to make Europe's security the price of peace

So Russia wants to turn a war-ending negotiation into a negotiation about rewriting Europe's security map.

And Europe isn't even in the room.

Russia's delegation source says the Ukraine settlement is "subordinate to the main objective" of building a new security system for the whole continent.

Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide, leads Russia's team. Rustem Umerov, who runs Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, leads Ukraine's. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are running it for Donald Trump.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesperson, says the format is three-way only. His reasoning? Washington and Kyiv already have their own channels with Europe.

But before the main session, Steve Witkoff met separately with Ukrainian and European representatives. And he said afterward he wants multilateral talks that bring European partners in.

So even the Americans think Europe needs to be in this.

This is the first trilateral round since Geneva in February. Jared Kushner wrote earlier this month that Washington is building a new European security system that accounts for everyone's interests.

Russia just took that opening and built its whole demand on top of it. Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, praised the approach a few hours ago and said Russia has its own position paper on a new Eurasian security architecture.

And Europe already said no, before the talks even opened. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, said security talks should only start once there's a ceasefire. Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, says quote "we already have a European security architecture in place" and that Russia keeps breaking the treaties that hold it up.

So here's the basic disagreement. Europe says: end the war, then talk security. Russia says security is the whole point, and Ukraine is just one piece of it.

Russia has also just rejected a temporary ceasefire. It wants a full deal instead, because it says Ukraine could use a pause to rearm.

There is one place both sides have moved. A US official briefed that Russia and Ukraine have privately shown some flexibility on swapping territory, with security guarantees for Ukraine on the table — including a defence commitment modelled on NATO's Article 5.

Donald Trump said a few hours ago he sees a strong inclination toward ending the war, and that both sides are tired of fighting. Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, says the process still has a long way to go.

Russia currently occupies roughly a fifth of Ukraine. None of it is recognised internationally.

So what don't we know? Whether Ukraine and the US accept Russia's framing, or push back on it. Whether this breaks the talks, or is a bargaining chip Russia plans to trade away.

And Europe still doesn't know. Right now, its own security arrangements are the main subject on the table — in a room it was never invited into.