Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Western troops stationed in Ukraine would be considered “legitimate targets for defeat”, a day after dozens of Kyiv’s allies pledged to contribute to a potential peacekeeping force in post war Ukraine.
“This is one of the root causes [of the war]: trying to involve Ukraine in NATO. If some troops appear there, especially now, during military operations, we proceed from the fact that these will be legitimate targets for destruction,” Putin told an economic forum in Far Eastern Vladivostok region on Friday. Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov also slammed the projected security guarantees for Ukraine, stating on Friday that “This cannot be a guarantee of security for Ukraine that would suit our country."
Kremlin’s warning came one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said 26 countries are “backing security guarantees” for Kyiv “in different formats.” “We have agreed there will be presence. The presence is different. It is in the sky, in the sea and on the ground,” Zelenskiy said. He hailed the move as a “serious concrete step”.
Commenting on the deployment of 26 countries’ troops, French President Emmanuel Macron said after a summit with European leaders on Friday that the troops would not be stationed “on the frontline” but aim to “prevent any new major aggression”. US contribution to the security guarantees will be finalized in the coming days, Macron added.
