President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia warned on Friday that Western forces would be “legitimate targets” if they arrived in Ukraine before a peace agreement was reached, directing a threat at European leaders a day after they said they were willing to send troops to secure a deal.
Mr. Putin also said it would be “practically impossible” for him to reach an agreement with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in a face-to-face meeting. He suggested that any such talks be held in Moscow, a proposal that the Ukrainians dismissed as a nonstarter.
“The Ukrainian side wants a meeting,” Mr. Putin said at an economic conference in Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East. “We are ready,” he said. “And the best place for it would be the capital of our country.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said on social media that Mr. Putin “continues to mess around with everyone by making knowingly unacceptable proposals.”
Mr. Putin spoke a day after a summit of European leaders in Paris, where President Emmanuel Macron of France said 26 countries had committed to securing a future peace in Ukraine, including by deploying troops on the ground, in the sea or in the air to deter Russian aggression. But the leaders offered few specifics.
Mr. Macron said that Western forces would be sent to Ukraine only after the fighting stopped — “the day after a cease-fire or peace.” But Mr. Putin said on Friday that if any Western troops appeared in Ukraine “especially now, during the fighting, we assume that these will be legitimate targets.”
If they arrived afterward, Mr. Putin added, their presence “wouldn’t make any sense,” because Russia would respect “security guarantees, which, of course, must be worked out for both Russia and Ukraine.”
Ukrainian officials are highly doubtful that Russia would abide by any peace framework, so they are working to build up their own military deterrence and formalize Western backup.
Mr. Zelensky said Mr. Putin’s invitation to Moscow meant that Russia wanted to sabotage the possibility of direct talks, an idea that President Trump has promoted. Mr. Putin arrived in Vladivostok after a four-day trip to China, where he joined the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un of North Korea and other autocrats in a show of unity against the U.S.-led West.
In Vladivostok, he spoke at the plenary session of an annual economic conference where, for three days, Russian government and business leaders have discussed the country’s economy, focusing on cooperation with China and the development of remote provinces in the Far East.
Mr. Putin also signaled that Russia was willing to work with American companies on joint economic projects in Alaska and the Arctic, in what appeared to be his latest effort to divert Mr. Trump’s attention from the war to the potential economic benefits of renewed ties with Moscow.
Mr. Putin said the United States was “also a nation that belongs to the Asia-Pacific, and there are many interested parties there that would like to restore or begin new work with us.”
“A political decision needs to be made,” he said.
Since Mr. Trump’s inauguration in January, Mr. Putin has been trying to separate the war in Ukraine from the broader issue of the two countries’ relationship. But the Trump administration has publicly insisted that the fighting must end before economic ties can be renewed.
Ivan Nechepurenko covers Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the countries of the Caucasus, and Central Asia.
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