Putin Warns Foreign Troops in Ukraine Would Be “Legitimate Targets” for Russia

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that if European countries send troops to Ukraine after a peace deal, Russia will treat them as legitimate military targets and the war could resume. The statement comes as diplomatic efforts involving the US, Russia and Ukraine to end the war have intensified.
Putin said foreign troop deployments in Ukraine threaten Russia’s national security and that Moscow has regarded them as unacceptable from the outset. He also objected to European proposals for a post-settlement peacekeeping force, saying such a deployment could reignite the conflict.
On November 12, Putin met US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin for more than four hours. They discussed ending the war, regional security and a future peace agreement. Kushner said European countries want a role in upcoming negotiations, which would allow broader post-war European security arrangements and territorial disputes to be discussed.
The meeting followed two days of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, where Russian and Ukrainian representatives held their first direct negotiations in about nine months. No major breakthrough was reported, but both sides agreed in principle to exchange a large number of prisoners of war, which could reunite thousands of people with their families.
After Moscow, the US envoys travelled to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy welcomed the possibility of European participation and said he hoped future talks would address a ceasefire and de-escalation. Russia has not formally endorsed European involvement in the new negotiating format.
Putin gave no sign of softening Russia’s demands over the eastern region of Donbas. Moscow wants any peace deal to recognise its control of the territory, a demand Ukraine has rejected. Putin also proposed launching a humanitarian mission in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka under a temporary ceasefire. While the prisoner swap and agreement to continue talks are seen as diplomatic progress, differences remain over territorial disputes and post-war security arrangements.