Russian President Vladimir Putin MOSCOW, Sept 05 (Agencies): Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that any Western forces deployed to Ukraine would be a "legitimate" target for Moscow's army, a day after Kyiv's allies said they had committed to a troop presence in the event of a peace deal.
Two dozen countries, led by France and Britain, pledged Thursday to join a "reassurance" force on land, at sea and in the air to patrol any agreement to end the conflict, unleashed by Russia in February 2022.
Tens of thousands have been killed in three-and-a-half years of fighting, which has forced millions from their homes and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine in Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Kyiv says security guarantees, backed by Western troops, are crucial to any agreement, in order to ensure Russia does not re-launch its offensive in the future.
"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 eastern city of Vladivostok.
He added that the deployment of such a force was not conducive to long-term peace and said Ukraine's closer military ties with the West were one of what he calls the "root causes" of the conflict.
Ukraine's allies have not revealed any specific details of the plan, including how many troops it would involve and how specific countries would contribute.
"We have today 26 countries who have formally committed-some others have not yet taken a position-to deploy as a 'reassurance force' troops in Ukraine, or be present on the ground, in the sea, or in the air," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Thursday, standing alongside Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky hailed the move: "I think that today, for the first time in a long time, this is the first such serious concrete step."
The troops would not be deployed "on the front line" but aim to "prevent any new major aggression", the French president said.
US President Donald Trump has forced the two sides to open talks on how to end the conflict, though multiple rounds of diplomacy have failed to yield anything more than prisoner exchanges.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that 26 of Ukraine's allies have pledged to deploy troops as a "reassurance force" for the war-torn country once fighting ends in the conflict with Russia.
Macron spoke after a meeting in Paris of the so-called "coalition of the willing," a group of 35 countries who support Ukraine. He said that 26 of the countries had committed to deploying troops in Ukraine - or to maintaining a presence on land, at sea, or in the air - to help guarantee the country's security the day after a ceasefire or peace is achieved.
Earlier Thursday, Macron and other European leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the US envoy for peace talks, Steve Witkoff, to discuss ways of ensuring long-term military support and continued American backing for Ukraine once the conflict ends. Zelenskyy also held a closed-door meeting with Witkoff.
Macron said at a news conference alongside Zelenskyy that the reassurance force "does not have the will or the objective of waging war against Russia," but will aim "to prevent any new major aggression and to involve the 26 states very clearly in the lasting security of Ukraine."
Trump says will speak
with Putin soon
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would speak soon with Russia's Vladimir Putin, after his call earlier in the day with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.
"I will be, yeah," Trump told a reporter asking if he would speak with the Russian leader in the near future, on the sidelines of a dinner with prominent US tech executives at the White House.
Trump's call with European leaders came after a summit in Paris aimed at firming up plans for security guarantees for Ukraine if or when there is a ceasefire.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that talks with Trump "can be organized very quickly if necessary" but rejected out of hand the idea of Western security guarantees for Kyiv.
Beijing rejects Trump call to
pressure China on Ukraine
Beijing said Friday it "strongly opposes" calls to put economic pressure on China, after US President Donald Trump urged European countries to do so over the war in Ukraine.
China has never denounced Russia's war nor called for it to withdraw its troops, and many of Ukraine's allies believe that Beijing has provided support to Moscow.
China insists it is a neutral party, regularly calling for an end to the fighting while also accusing Western countries of prolonging the conflict by arming Ukraine.
Speaking by video conference with European leaders gathered in Paris on Thursday, Trump urged them to put pressure on China, and also said "Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war", a senior White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Trump to reinterpret 1987
missile treaty to sell heavy
attack drones abroad
President Donald Trump is expected to unilaterally reinterpret a 38-year-old arms control treaty to sell sophisticated "Reaper" style and other advanced military drones abroad, according to a US official and four people familiar with the plan.
The new interpretation would unlock the sale of more than 100 MQ-9 drones to Saudi Arabia, which the kingdom requested in the spring of this year and could be part of a $142 billion arms deal announced in May. US allies in the Pacific and Europe have also expressed interest.
By designating drones as aircraft like the F-16 rather than missile systems, the United States will sidestep the 35-nation Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) agreement it signed in 1987, propelling drone sales to countries like UAE and in Eastern European nations that have struggled to get their hands on America's best unmanned aerial vehicles.
The new policy will allow General Atomics, Kratos, and Anduril, which manufacture large drones, to have their products treated as "Foreign Military Sales" by the State Department, allowing them to be easily sold internationally, according to a US official speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
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