Putin Affirms Foreign Troops In Ukraine Becomes The Legitimate Target Of Attacks

Russian President Vladimir Putin/PHOTO via Instagram @russian_kremlin

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that foreign troops in Ukraine are the legitimate targets to be attacked.

This statement was in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyy who said thousands of foreign troops could be deployed to his country with postwar security guarantees.

The two statements underscore the dividing gap between Kyiv and Moscow as Western pessimism increases over the prospect of ending Russia's war in Ukraine soon.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump expressed greater frustration with Moscow, saying Russia appeared "loss" from China.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday 26 countries pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, including international forces on land, sea, and air.

Macron initially said the countries would be deployed to Ukraine, but later said some of them would provide guarantees while remaining outside Ukraine, for example by helping train and service Kyiv forces.

"It is important for us to discuss all of these (security guarantees), the number is definitely thousands (forces), not just a few," Zelenskyy said after meeting Antonio Costa, a senior EU official, in western Ukraine.

Russia has long stated that one of the reasons for fighting in Ukraine is to prevent NATO from accepting Kyiv as a member and placing its troops in Ukraine.

"Therefore, if some troops appeared there, especially now, during military operations, we assumed that they would be the target of legal destruction," Putin said in an economic forum in Russia's Vladivostok city.

"And if the decisions taken lead to peace, long-term peace, then I don't see at all the point of their presence in Ukrainian territory, period," Putin continued.

Meanwhile, Trump this week said he was "very disappointed" by Putin. He is also disappointed with Russia and India's steps to improve relations with China amid Beijing's efforts to create a new world order.

Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.

"It looks like we have lost India and Russia because of China. Hopefully they have a long and prosperous future together!" Trump wrote in a social media post accompanying the photos of the three leaders at Xi's summit in China.

Trump said on Thursday he would speak again with Putin in the near future.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no doubts that the meeting could be held very quickly.

Amid rising Western pessimism over the prospect of peace between Ukraine, the United States and Europe is discussing the implementation of further sanctions against Russia regarding the war.

"We are ready to do more, we are working with the US and other partners who are working to increase our pressure, through further sanctions, both direct sanctions and secondary sanctions. More economic steps to push Russia to stop this war," Costa said after meeting Zelenskyy.