President Vladimir Putin has rejected proposed Western security guarantees for Ukraine, warning that any foreign troops deployed in the neighbouring country would be a “legitimate target” for Russia’s military.
Putin’s warning on Friday came a day after dozens of nations pledged to send troops to the war-battered country as a security guarantee in the event of a hoped-for peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv.
A summit of the “coalition of the willing” on Thursday saw 26 states agree to provide forces to deter Russia from further aggression should President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker that peace succeed. However, the commitment of the United States, viewed as essential to any such security arrangement, remains uncertain.
“If some troops appear there, especially now during the fighting, we proceed from the premise that they will be legitimate targets,” Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, an event following closely after the Russian president engaged in a public display of close relations with China and North Korea.
Putin added that the deployment of foreign troops would not be conducive to long-term peace and reiterated his claim that Ukraine’s closer military ties with the West are among the “root causes” of the conflict, which began in February 2022 when Russian forces invaded.
“If decisions are reached that lead to peace, to long-term peace, then I simply do not see any sense in their presence on the territory of Ukraine, full stop,” Putin declared.
Separately, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that the proposal agreed at the Paris summit was “definitely not” acceptable.
“We would recognise it as a threat to ourselves – the presence of international forces, or any foreign forces, or NATO forces on Ukrainian soil, near our border,” he told reporters.
Peskov instead claimed that all needed security guarantees for Ukraine were contained in the provisions of the agreements reached at peace talks in Istanbul in 2022.
Under the Istanbul framework, Ukraine would abandon NATO ambitions and adopt a neutral, nuclear-free status. In exchange, it would receive security assurances from the US, Russia, China, Britain and France.
However, led by France and Britain, the Paris summit proposal said that a “reassurance” force to patrol in Ukraine is necessary to enforce any future deal.
Ukraine and the West point to a long list of infringements of previous agreements by Russia, including between 2014-2022, when Moscow-backed separatists were fighting Kyiv’s army in the east of the country.
Uncertain
The Paris summit was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and attended by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while others, like British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, participated remotely.
The meeting represented a new push led by Macron to show that Europe can act independently of the US, after Trump launched direct talks with Putin, stoking concern that he is ready to accept Kremlin narratives on the war and its demands for a ceasefire.
Therefore, the extent of any US involvement in the plan proposed in Paris remains uncertain.
Trump has said previously that Washington will not put troops on the ground but may provide other support, such as air power.
Putin said on Friday that security guarantees must be set in place for both Russia and Ukraine.
“I repeat once again, of course, Russia will implement these agreements. But, in any case, no one has discussed this with us at a serious level yet.”
Following a call with European leaders at the Paris summit, Trump said he would speak with Putin soon. Peskov said that such a call could be organised swiftly.
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