European and NATO officials rejected Moscow’s conditions ahead of next week’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in China. Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen called the reported demand for Finland to exit the alliance “absolutely outrageous” and “not on the negotiating table,” while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that discussing Europe’s security architecture is a Russian “trap” to divert attention from the lack of a ceasefire. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Europe’s security framework already exists within NATO, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada would never abandon its allies, noting it leads a brigade with 2,500 troops in Latvia.

During the talks this week, Russia also rejected an energy ceasefire and proposed a humanitarian corridor in contested Kostiantynivka that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed as a ploy to occupy the city. Meanwhile, Zelensky said US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff asked for the first time whether Kyiv would withdraw from the parts of Donbas it still controls in exchange for joining NATO. Zelensky said he would put a formal offer to a public vote only if backed by US, NATO, and EU security guarantees, stable military and reconstruction funding, and no legal recognition of Russian occupation.