On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a strong statement: any Western forces sent to Ukraine would be “legitimate targets” for the Russian military. The words were a direct and forceful response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that a coalition of 26 countries had promised to send a “reassurance force” to Ukraine after the battle.
Putin spoke at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok and said that Russia has always thought that the presence of Western troops in Ukraine is a provocation. He also said that a peace accord would make this presence obsolete. “If some troops show up there, especially now, during military operations, we will consider them legitimate targets for destruction,” he stated.
Putin’s threat has made the already tense situation much more so, both in terms of the fighting and the diplomatic efforts to end it. France and the UK are leading the “coalition of the willing,” which is trying to give Kyiv security guarantees to stop Russia from attacking again. Macron has maintained that a US-backed force is necessary and that Washington is willing to be a part of the strategy, but it is still not clear what role the US will play. President Donald Trump has indicated he won’t send US troops to the ground, but he has intimated that he would send air support and intelligence.
Western officials, including Trump, have accused Putin of stalling for time in peace talks so that his troops may make more progress in eastern Ukraine. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said in a different interview that Moscow would require “legally binding documents” for any peace pact. Some people saw this as a ploy to put off a deal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that security guarantees from Western forces are essential to any peace deal and has turned down Putin’s offer to meet in Moscow.