VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a stark warning on Friday, declaring that any Western troops deployed to Ukraine would be a “legitimate target” for Moscow’s military. The statement came a day after Kiev’s allies announced plans to station forces in Ukraine as part of a “reassurance” effort tied to a prospective peace deal, According to Hurriyet Daily News.
Two dozen countries, led by France and Britain, pledged Thursday to contribute troops on land, sea, and air to monitor and enforce any future agreement to halt the conflict unleashed by Russia in February 2022. The war, now more than three-and-a-half years old, has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, and reduced large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine to ruins — Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
“If some troops appear there, especially now during the fighting, we proceed from the premise that they will be legitimate targets,” Putin said at an economic forum in the far eastern city of Vladivostok. He argued that Ukraine’s closer military ties with the West are among the “root causes” of the conflict and suggested the presence of foreign forces would not promote long-term peace.
Western leaders, however, insist that a multinational security presence is essential to deter renewed Russian aggression. French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking alongside Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, confirmed that 26 nations had formally committed to deploying forces. “The troops would not be on the front line,” Macron said, “but aim to prevent any new major aggression.” Zelensky called it a “serious, concrete step” in safeguarding Ukraine’s future.
The precise role of U.S. forces remains unclear, and divisions persist within the coalition, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urging caution. Meanwhile, Moscow has maintained its hard-line stance, demanding that Ukraine cede territory and abandon Western support — terms Kiev has rejected as “old ultimatums.”
Putin suggested that if a peace agreement were genuinely reached, foreign troops would be unnecessary. “If deals are reached, let no one doubt that Russia will comply with them in full,” he said, though Ukraine and European leaders point to a long history of Moscow breaking agreements, dating back to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
As tensions mount, the shadow of a multinational presence in Ukraine has drawn a stark line between the ambitions of the West and Russia’s unyielding posture, leaving the future of the peace process deeply uncertain.
