In a development that has European capitals reaching for their collective antacids, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held what they described as a "substantive" call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about peace negotiations. Kyiv is hoping this constitutes "new momentum" in the peace talks, a phrase that has done a lot of heavy lifting over the past few years.

The call reportedly focused on peace negotiations, and the reaction from some European leaders was best described as "skeptical" - which is diplomacy-speak for "we've heard this one before." The Finns and Norwegians, who share a border with Russia and therefore have a vested interest in not being invaded, apparently decided a phone call was worth a shot.

Meanwhile, UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting was busy warning that Putin is "testing us and testing Nato's resolve," condemning hybrid threats and "state-sponsored terrorism" from Russia. Streeting repeated his recent warnings that "we have to be ready for a scenario in which the United Kingdom and the Nato alliance finds itself at war with Russia."

He added, with the sort of clarity that only comes from watching history repeat itself: "Not because we want war - we have no quarrel with the Russian people, and we have no desire for war with Russia; Nato is a defensive alliance - but when Putin gives assurances that he has no intentions to provoke a war with Nato, we are reminded of what he said about Ukraine only days before the invasion." The defence secretary's point being that Putin's assurances have a shelf life roughly equivalent to a carton of milk left in the sun.

The logic, per Streeting: "The more ready we are to face against Russia, to defend every inch of Nato territory, the less likely we are to find ourselves in that scenario." It's the geopolitical equivalent of locking your door - not because you want burglars, but because you'd rather they didn't.

Streeting also took a moment to praise Poland, calling it "one of our greatest and certainly our most reliable friend in Europe," adding that the UK values and treasures this friendship "very much." Poland, for its part, has been reliably vocal about the Russian threat since roughly forever.

So: a Finnish-Norwegian peace call, a British warning about war, and a whole lot of skepticism. The peace talks continue, presumably with everyone keeping one hand on the phone and the other on the defence budget.