Western troops in Ukraine would be ‘targets’ for Russian forces: Putin

Vladimir Putin, the president’s representative, warned that any foreign troops stationed in the neighboring nation would be Russia’s military’s “legitimate target.” He has rejected Western security guarantees for Ukraine.

In the event of a hoped-for peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv, hundreds of nations pledged to send troops there on Friday as a security guarantee.

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If President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker that peace are unsuccessful, 26 states agreed at a summit of the “coalition of the willing” on Thursday to provide forces to deter Russia from further aggression. The United States’ commitment, which is viewed as essential to any such security arrangement, is still a mystery.

At the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin stated that if some troops showed up, especially now that they are engaged in fighting, they would likely be legitimate targets. This was a move that came after the Russian president made a public display of close ties with China and North Korea.

Putin reaffirmed his claim that Ukraine’s closer military ties with the West are one of the “root causes” of the conflict, which started in February 2022 when Russian forces launched an invasion and stated that the deployment of foreign troops would not promote long-term peace.

Putin said, “I simply do not see any sense in their presence on the territory of Ukraine, full stop, if decisions are made that lead to peace, to long-term peace.”

Separately, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, stated that the Paris summit proposal was “definitely not” acceptable.

The presence of NATO forces, foreign forces, or international forces on Ukrainian soil, he said, “would be considered a threat to ourselves,” he said to reporters.

Peskov instead asserted that all necessary security guarantees for Ukraine were included in the terms of the 2022 peace negotiations in Istanbul.

Ukraine would abandon NATO goals and establish a neutral, nuclear-free status under the Istanbul framework. It would also receive security assurances from France, the US, Russia, China, and Britain.

However, the Paris summit proposal stated that any future agreement must be enforced by a “reassurance” force to patrol in Ukraine under the leadership of France and Britain.

Russia has previously violated numerous agreements with Ukraine and the West, including one that involved separatists fighting Kyiv’s army in the east between 2014 and 2022.

Uncertain

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, hosted the Paris summit, while other countries, such as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, took the initiative remotely.

After Trump and Putin had direct talks, the meeting stoked concerns that Macron is ready to accept Kremlin accounts of the conflict and its demands for a ceasefire. He led the charge to demonstrate that Europe can act independently of the US.

Therefore, it’s uncertain whether the US will be involved in the Paris proposal.

Trump has previously stated that Washington may provide additional support, such as air power, but won’t deploy troops there.

Putin stated on Friday that both Russia and Ukraine need security guarantees.

Russia will, of course, carry out these agreements, I repeat. However, no one has yet had a serious discussion about this with us.