The filtration of the peace agreement of 28 points drawn up by the United States with Russian input acted as a strategic jolt to Europe. For the first time since the end of World War II, European capitals contemplated the possibility of a settlement that would not only weaken Ukraine, but directly erode the foundations of their own security architecture.
Thus a race has begun: that of securing its borders.
The turn that woke up Europe. I was counting this morning the financial times that the document, right now in full discussionwas perceived in Europe as a covert capitulation to Moscow’s interests, one proposed limits on the size of the Ukrainian army, permanent vetoes on Ukraine’s entry into NATO, and even formulas that turned Washington into a neutral arbiter between Russia and the Atlantic Alliance, a turn that many on the old continent considered unacceptable.
The fact that the draft was negotiated without participation of any Member State of the EU or NATO accentuated the feeling of vulnerability and marked a psychological limit: if peace is signed behind closed doors and without Europe, the consequences will fall precisely on Europe.
Raising the tone. Hence, leaders such as Ursula von der Leyen or Friedrich Merz they will talk of “moment of destiny”, while Warsaw warned that no agreement could allow Russia to shape continental security as it wishes.
The immediate result was a coordinated reaction: emergency video conferences, parallel negotiations in Geneva and an accelerated attempt to reinstate Europe at the center of the decisions that define its future.
Political rearmament. European alarm is not limited to the fate of Ukraine. Covers the entire legal frameworkmilitary and diplomatic that supports continental stability. The proposal of ban forever Ukraine’s entry into NATO meant accepting a de facto veto right for Moscow over the Alliance, something that European diplomats consider more dangerous than any territorial setback.
Similarly, the possibility that an agreement would prevent the deployment of European troops in Ukraine as a guarantee force frustrated the Franco-British ambitions to create a “Coalition of the Willing.” And even more serious, the draft introduced a “Russia-NATO dialogue mediated by the United States,” a scheme that reinterpreted the history of the Alliance and positioned Washington not as a committed member, but as an external referee.
The levers. In other words, the protection of the European order could no longer be taken for granted. With the United States showing signs of withdrawal and inclination to negotiate bilaterally with Moscow, Europe discovered that its room for maneuver it narrowedand that his levers (sanctions, frozen Russian funds, G7 membership, single market access rules) were even more valuable than he believed, and that he now had to use them to secure an essential seat at the table.
Economic control. The leaked texts they pointed to concessions that would have emptied Europe’s most powerful tools: the ability to sanction and condition Russia’s re-entry into the global economy. The idea of creating investment funds with the 210 billion euros of the Russian Central Bank frozen in the EU, so that both Washington and Moscow could benefit, caused outrage in Brussels.
For the EU, these assets are not just a sanction: they are the heart of the future repair architecture and the key to financing Ukraine in the years in which the United States withdraws. Similarly, the proposal to reinstate Russia into the G8 would be equivalent to a political amnesty for Putin, blowing up years of diplomatic isolation and contradicting the entire European effort to penalize his aggression. Therefore, while the draft negotiated in Geneva was trimmed and softened, Europe reaffirmed that no peace can return to Russia the economic and strategic benefits it lost after invading Ukraine. Without sustained economic pressure, any truce would be temporary, and with it, the EU retains the only element that can still force Moscow to negotiate seriously.
A race against time. The biggest change that this episode caused is the acceptance, in all European capitals, that Europe must prepare for a scenario in which the United States already not be your guarantor automatic. Doubts about American commitment have opened a cycle of accelerated reflection about air defenseindustrial reconstitution and autonomous military deployment. From France and Germany to Poland, the question is no longer whether Europe should take on more responsibilities, but whether it can. fast enough.
The war in Ukraine has shown that ground defense is essential, but also that European security it is played in the air: drones, missiles, FPV swarms, electronic warfare. Russian drone raids in Poland and Romaniawhich a few years ago would have been unthinkable, have become the most visible sign that the line between the war in Ukraine and the security of European territory has been blurred. All of this has triggered a profound rethinking of how shield the European skyhow to integrate heterogeneous systems and how to develop cheap, scalable and quick-to-deploy defenses.
The ally that no one expected: Xbox controllers. Thus, in the midst of this urgent race to strengthen their defenses, Europe and NATO have found the most unexpected allies: lthe xbox controllers. Systems like Merops (a drone interceptor used in Ukraine and already adopted by Poland and Romania) are controlled with controls identical to those that anyone buys in a store for 30 dollars.
Far from being an anecdote, this solution represents the search for simplicityspeed and familiarity: soldiers trained in video games can operate these platforms in a matter of days, and become effective pilots in two weeks, something unthinkable with traditional military systems.
The form of control, key. The intuitive ergonomics, commercial availability and robustness of the controllers have made these devices an unexpected standard of the new European battlefield. In fact, a soldier who pilots the interceptors told Insider that the Xbox controller is the ideal option. “It’s compact and easy to pack and store, and the Xbox controllers are very durable,” explained during a Merops demonstration in southeastern Poland last week.
What was once a leisure accessory has become a tactical tool for intercept Shahed dronesneutralize threats in real time and reinforce the lower layer of the air defenses on the eastern flank. It is a direct response to a central problem: Europe does not have the time necessary to build exclusively military systems; You need solutions that work now.
Between autonomy and improvisation. The feeling that prevails after this episode is that Europe has entered a period of transition in which security can no longer depend of transatlantic automation. The peace proposal leaked has not caused a diplomatic crisis, it has revealed a latent crisis: Europe understood that, in a possible peace agreement, its interests could cease to be priorities for Washington.
For this reason, the European reaction has not been just politicsbut technical, industrial and military. Acceleration of ammunition production, expansion of anti-aircraft systems, reinforcement of the eastern flank, review of NATO’s role and exploration of unconventional solutions like those Merops controllers or commercial technology integration. The war in Ukraine has accelerated the future, and Europe has discovered that to survive in it, it will have to combine traditional institutions, strategic economic pressure, and a surprising dose of improvised innovation.
A peace that does not disarm Europe. If you like, the immediate horizon is more or less clear: if a peace agreement is reached without Europe securing its essential interests, the continent could wake up in a more fragile scenario than before the invasion. Hence the European objective be double: prevent Ukraine from being left defenseless and ensure that any peace reinforces (and does not replace) the European security framework.
The initial shock of American-Russian plan has forced Europe to rewrite its strategic role: to go from irritated spectator to essential actor. And in that transition, from the frozen 210,000 million to Xbox controllersEurope is building a new defensive architecture where the sophisticated coexists with the improvised, and where security depends as much on treaties as on the ability to intercept a drone in seconds.
Image | Thinkleverage, nara, European Defense Agency
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