Putin says Russia will consider the foreign forces deployed in Ukraine “legitimate goals”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that any foreign forces deployed in Ukraine, especially while his country’s full invasion is still continuing, it is considered “legitimate targets” by the Moscow forces. Putin’s comments came hours after European leaders re -adhered to provide a potential peacekeeping force as part of Ukraine security guarantees if a ceasefire is agreed upon.

Moscow has repeatedly described the possibility of western forces in Ukraine, even after the fighting ended, “unacceptable”.

“If any forces appear there, especially during the fighting, we assume that they will be legitimate targets,” the Russian leader said during a discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in the Far East in Vladivostok.

On Friday, Putin rejected the idea that any peacekeeping forces will be required in Ukraine to monitor a final peace agreement, saying, “No one should suspect” that Moscow will agree to a treaty to stop its full conquest for a period of 3 years for its neighbor. Putin categorically denied for several months Any intent to launch his invasion in 2022, despite the Biden administration, which accuses him of developing clear plans for that.

On Friday, he said that there will be a need for security guarantees for Russia and Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Moscow will need “legally binding documents” to determine these agreements. “Of course, you cannot take the word anyone for something,” he told Russian News Outlet PresMenty I Fakty.

Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski said on Friday that thousands of Western forces are likely to be deployed as part of security guarantees with an agreement to end the war.

“This will not be a single number, but in thousands. This is a fact, but it is too early to talk about it,” Zellinski told a press conference in West Ukraine, with European Council President Antonio Costa.

Putin and Zelinski’s comments come after French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that 26 Ukraine allies pledged to deploy the forces as a reassurance force “to Ukraine when the fighting ends.

Macron spoke after a meeting in Paris of the so -called coalition in The Risping, a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine. He said that 26 countries have committed to deploying forces in Ukraine – or maintaining a presence on the ground, at sea or in the air – to help ensure the security of the country the day after the ceasefire or peace.

In his speech to the participants in the International Economic Conference of the Ambrocanti Forum on Friday, Zelenskyy said it is important to ensure security “starting work now, during the war, and not only after its end.”

He said he could not reveal more details because they are “sensitive and related to the military field.”

Russian forces attacked Ukraine overnight with 157 strikes and drones, in addition to seven missiles of various types. She said that the air defenses were brought down or disturbed 121 drones.

The head of the regional administration, Serhii Lysak, wrote on social media. The regional administration also said that an unlimited “facility” had been put in the strike, but it did not give more details.

Lysak shared pictures of residential buildings with damaged surfaces, glass fragments lying on the floor and people with wooden panels to cover the broken windows. “Special houses have been damaged. Windows have been destroyed in residential buildings,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, in the Chirnhif region of Ukraine, north of Kiev, Russian drones attacked the infrastructure in the Novhurud-Sephrsk region, leaving at least 15 settlements without electricity, according to the local authorities.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Friday that Russian forces destroyed 92 Ukrainian drones overnight, at the same time. Local social media channels in the city of Raysan, about 125 miles southeast Moscow, reported that the state -owned Rosnef oil refinery has been targeted. Share the videos that appeared showing a fire on the night sky.

The governor of the local state, Pavel Malikov, said that the drone wreckage fell on an “industrial institution”, but it did not give more details, instead, the residents warn against publishing pictures of air defenses on social media.