PARIS: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that any Western troops deployed to Ukraine would be a "legitimate" target for Moscow's army, a day after Kyiv's Western allies said they had committed to a troop presence in the event of a peace deal.
"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 east city of Vladivostok.
He added that the deployment of a Western force was not conducive to long term peace.
Russia rejected the notion of Western security guarantees for Ukraine on Friday, after more than two dozen countries pledged to join a “reassurance” force to deploy in the wartorn country after any eventual peace deal with Moscow.
A force to deter Russia from again attacking its neighbor is a key pillar of the security backstop a coalition of mainly European countries want to offer to Ukraine if the war ends via a peace deal or a ceasefire.
