If some forces appear there, especially now during the ongoing fighting, we proceed from the premise that they constitute legitimate targets, says Putin and adds that it would not be "beneficial for long-term peace".
26 countries
On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced, after a summit with several world leaders, that 26 countries are ready to send soldiers to Ukraine to maintain a possible ceasefire or peace agreement.
It did not fall on fertile ground in Moscow.
Can foreign, in particular European and American, forces guarantee the security of Ukraine? Definitely not, said spokesperson Dimitrij Peskov to the state news agency Ria.
It is not a security guarantee that can be accepted by our country.
"Not up to them"
Similar statements have come from the Russian side before. However, NATO Chief Mark Rutte believes that it is not up to the Kremlin.
Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It is a single country. It is not up to them to decide, said Rutte during a visit to Prague, where he warned the world against giving the Russian leader Vladimir Putin too much leeway.
US President Donald Trump states that he will talk to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, after having spoken on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyj on Thursday.
According to Dmitrij Peskov, no such conversation has been planned yet, but "can be organized very quickly if necessary".
