Putin: Western troops in Ukraine would be fair ‘targets’
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Thousands of security guarantee troops needed: Ukraine
President of the Republic of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, made the announcement on Friday. Poroshenko has been in office for just over a year. He was elected to a second term last year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has indicated the scale of a possible foreign troop presence in his country following recent consultations on future security guarantees.
Ukrainian media outlets reported that Zelenskiy said he would not discuss exact numbers but that it would certainly not be just a few but thousands of soldiers.
He made the comments on Friday after a meeting with European Union Council president António Costa in western Ukraine.
West’s Troops Would Be Fair Targets, Putin Warns
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would consider any Western troops deployed to Ukraine to be “legitimate targets” for strikes. His comments were a response to Ukraine’s allies, led by French President Emmanuel Macron, attempting to piece together postwar protections for Kyiv. 26 of the nations agreed to provide security guarantees, including a presence by land, sea, and air.
US envoy Steve Witkoff attended Thursday’s meeting, which other nations took as an encouraging sign, per the New York Times. “It is important that the United States is on our side,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, adding, “Many things depend on them.” Most European countries still rule out sending actual troops, per the Guardian, with discussions about a potential peacekeeping force watered down to a more limited “reassurance” mission focused on training rather than frontline operations. Zelensky, back in his country on Friday, suggested the envisioned Western force would be sizable.
The US reportedly has floated the idea of leading efforts to monitor a demilitarized buffer zone, possibly using troops from non-NATO countries, but all such plans remain hypothetical. A White House official told the Times that President Trump was called into Thursday’s meeting.
Putin: Western troops in Ukraine would be fair ‘targets’ – DW – 09
Bavaria’s Markus Söder rejects deploying German troops in Ukraine. “I find it hard to imagine NATO troops being stationed there,” he said. He also suggested sending Ukrainians fit for military service back to their country. His remarks come one day after Berlin stopped short of promising further military commitments to Ukraine.
Markus Söder, leader of the CSU — the Bavarian sister-party to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) — has clearly rejected the idea of deploying German troops in Ukraine as part of security guarantees for Kyiv.
“I find it hard to imagine NATO troops being stationed there. Russia would never accept that. It would be a precursor to Ukraine joining NATO,” Söder told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
He added that the German Armed Forces are not ready.
“They are stretched to the limit, both financially and in terms of personnel. That is why conscription needs to be reintroduced,” said Söder.
His remarks come one day after Berlin stopped short of promising further military commitments to Ukraine following the hybrid “Coalition of the Willing” meeting in Paris.
The Bavarian premier also suggested sending Ukrainians fit for military service back to their country.
“Peace is not currently in sight. It is therefore legitimate to consider sending Ukrainians who are fit for military service back to their homeland to ensure security in their own country,” said Söder.
Putin: Any Western troops in Ukraine would be fair targets
Russian President Vladimir Putin said any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine before a peace agreement would be considered “legitimate targets” Putin also dismissed the idea of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after a final peace deal. Russian troops attacked Ukraine overnight with 157 strike and decoy drones, as well as seven missiles of various types, Ukraine’s air force reported Friday. Air defences shot down or jammed 121 of the drones, it said. Russian drones attacked infrastructure in the Chernihiv region north of Kyiv, leaving at least 15 settlements without electricity, local authorities reported. Local social media channels in the city of Ryazan, approximately 200 kilometres southeast of Moscow, reported that the city’s Rosneft oil refinery had been targeted by a drone attack.
Putin’s comments came hours after European leaders repledged their commitment to a potential peacekeeping force, a prospect that Moscow has repeatedly described as “unacceptable.”
“If any troops appear there, especially now while fighting is ongoing, we assume that they will be legitimate targets,” he said during a panel at the Eastern Economic Forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
Putin also dismissed the idea of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after a final peace deal, saying “no one should doubt” that Moscow would comply with a treaty to halt its 3½-year full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
He said that security guarantees would be needed for both Russia and Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later said that Moscow would need “legally binding documents” to outline such agreements. “Of course, you can’t just take anybody’s word for something,” he told Russian news outlet Argumenty i Fakty.
Putin’s comments follow remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that 26 of Ukraine’s allies have pledged to deploy troops as a “reassurance force” for Ukraine once fighting ends.
Macron spoke after a meeting in Paris of the so-called coalition of the willing, a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine. He said that 26 of the countries had committed to deploying troops to Ukraine — or to maintaining a presence on land, at sea or in the air — to help guarantee the country’s security the day after any ceasefire or peace is achieved.
Addressing the participants of the international economic conference the Ambrosetti Forum on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was important that security guarantees “start working now, during the war, and not only after it ends.”
He said he could not disclose more details as they are “sensitive and relate to the military sphere.” Russian troops attacked Ukraine overnight with 157 strike and decoy drones, as well as seven missiles of various types, Ukraine’s air force reported Friday. Air defences shot down or jammed 121 of the drones, it said.
One attack damaged multiple residential buildings in Dnipro in central Ukraine, regional administration head Serhii Lysak wrote on social media. The regional administration also said that an unspecified “facility” had been set alight in the strike, but did not give further details.
Lysak shared photos of residential buildings with damaged roofs, glass shards lying on the ground and people carrying wooden boards to cover broken windows. “Private homes were damaged. Windows in apartment buildings were shattered,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region north of Kyiv, Russian drones attacked infrastructure in the Novhorod-Siversk district, leaving at least 15 settlements without electricity, local authorities reported.
Elsewhere, Russian troops destroyed 92 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Defence Ministry said Friday. Local social media channels in the city of Ryazan, approximately 200 kilometres southeast of Moscow, reported that the city’s Rosneft oil refinery had been targeted. They shared videos that appeared to show a fire against the night sky. Local Gov Pavel Malkov said that drone debris had fallen on an “industrial enterprise” but did not give further details, instead warning residents not to post images of air defences on social media.
Putin warns that western forces in Ukraine would be fair game
Putin said Ukraine’s closer military ties with the West were one of what he calls the “root causes” of the conflict. He also dismissed the idea of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after a final peace deal, saying that if an agreement could be struck, there was no need for the troops. French President Emmanuel Macron said 26 of Ukraine’s allies have pledged to deploy troops as a “reassurance force” force on land, at sea and in the air to patrol once fighting ends. Hundreds of thousands have been killed and injured in three-and-a-half years of fighting, which has forced millions from their homes. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, almost eight years after Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. US President Donald Trump has forced the two sides to open talks on how to end the conflict, though multiple rounds of diplomacy have failed to yield anything more than prisoner exchanges. Moscow has repeatedly described the presence of Nato troops in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force “unacceptable”
Mr Putin’s comments came hours after European leaders repeated their commitment to a potential peacekeeping force.
“If any troops appear there, especially now while fighting is ongoing, we assume that they will be legitimate targets,” he said during a panel at the Eastern Economic Forum in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
A woman sits by a makeshift memorial for Ukrainian and foreign fighters at Independence Square in Kyiv. AFP
Mr Putin said the deployment of such a force was not conducive to long-term peace and said Ukraine’s closer military ties with the West were one of what he calls the “root causes” of the conflict.
He also dismissed the idea of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after a final peace deal, saying that if an agreement could be struck, there was no need for the troops.
“If decisions are reached that will lead to peace, to long-term peace, then I simply don’t see the point in their presence on the territory of Ukraine. Because if deals are reached, let no one doubt that Russia will comply with them in full,” said the Russian leader.
He said that security guarantees would be needed for both Russia and Ukraine.
Kyiv says security guarantees, backed by western troops, are crucial to any agreement, in order to ensure Russia does not relaunch its offensive in the future.
The Russian leader’s comments follow remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that 26 of Ukraine’s allies have pledged to deploy troops as a “reassurance force” force on land, at sea and in the air to patrol once fighting ends.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after a summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Thursday. AP
Mr Macron spoke after a meeting in Paris of the “coalition of the willing” − a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine.
He said that 26 of the countries had committed to deploying troops to Ukraine – or to maintaining a presence on land, at sea or in the air – to help guarantee the country’s security the day after any ceasefire or peace is achieved.
Ukraine’s allies have not revealed any specific details of the plan, including how many troops it would involve and how specific countries would contribute.
However, the troops would not be deployed “on the front line” but aim to “prevent any new major aggression”, the French President said.
Hundreds of thousands have been killed and injured in three-and-a-half years of fighting, which has forced millions from their homes and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine in Europe’s bloodiest conflict since the Second World War.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, almost eight years after Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Moscow has repeatedly described the presence of Nato troops in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force “unacceptable.”
US President Donald Trump has forced the two sides to open talks on how to end the conflict, though multiple rounds of diplomacy have failed to yield anything more than prisoner exchanges.
Moscow has stuck to its hardline demands, calling for Ukraine to cede even more territory and completely renounce western backing. Kyiv has ruled those out as “old ultimatums.”
Ukraine and the West point to a long list of times Russia has broken agreements on Ukraine, dating back to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, a post-Soviet agreement that saw Kyiv give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for assurances that Russia and other signatories, including the US and UK, would respect its independence and territorial integrity and refrain from the use of force.
Mr Putin earlier this week said his troops were advancing across the entire front line in eastern and southern Ukraine and that he would continue to fight if a peace deal was not reached.
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