The Kremlin has rejected any situation where foreign troops would be stationed in Ukraine to provide security guarantees, according to Russian state media.
It follows a pledge by Emmanuel Macron that 26 Western allies had formally committed to deploying troops “by land, sea or air” to Ukraine the day after a ceasefire is agreed.
After a summit of 35 countries dubbed the “Coalition of the Willing”, the French president said US support would be finalised in the coming days.
President Donald Trump recently indicated that US backing could “probably” come in the form of air support, and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said he had spoken to the US leader about “maximum protection for Ukraine’s skies”.
However, hopes of a deal to end the fighting have dimmed since Russia’s Vladimir Putin met Trump in Alaska last month.
Trump also said the EU should work with the US to halt imports of Russian oil and gas, to halt Russia’s “war machine by economic means”, according to an account of the phone-call from Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
The 27-member European Union has set a target of ending all gas and oil imports by the end of 2027. A White House official pointed out that Russia had received €1.1bn (£954m; $1.3bn) in fuel sales from the EU in one year, although the true figure is far higher.
Moscow has made clear that no Western forces should be deployed to Ukraine and has insisted that it should be one of the countries acting as “guarantors” – an idea rejected by Kyiv and its allies.
In remarks published by Russian state media, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said: “Can Ukraine’s security guarantees be ensured and provided by foreign, especially European and American, military contingents? Definitely not, they cannot.”
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Western allies now had an “unbreakable pledge” to Ukraine, backed by the US, and had to press Russia to end the war, according to a Downing Street spokeswoman.
Few countries have openly promised to deploy troops on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a deal, and the US has already ruled out such a move. European diplomats have suggested that committing troops at this point would probably help Putin’s narrative against the West.
Meanwhile, Russia was continuing to send troops into Ukraine despite the latest attempts to set ceasefire talks, Macron complained.
In the latest violence, two people clearing mines were killed in a Russian attack in northern Ukraine on Thursday.
Ukraine and its allies believe a ceasefire should be agreed before any attempt at securing a broader peace deal, although Russia disagrees.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said following the meeting that the first priority was to secure a ceasefire at a summit involving Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, and then provide “strong security guarantees”.
Zelensky’s top officials held talks in Paris with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday.
More than three-and-a-half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin said this week there was “a certain light at the end of the tunnel” and that “there are options for ensuring Ukraine’s security in the event the conflict ends”.
The prospect of a direct meeting involving Putin and Zelensky has become increasingly unlikely since it was suggested last month by President Trump.
Putin suggested this week Zelensky could come to Moscow for talks, an idea branded “unacceptable” by Kyiv. The Ukrainian leader said it was indication Russia did not really want the meeting to take place.
Nato chief Mark Rutte said on Thursday that Russia had no veto on Western troops being deployed to Ukraine: “Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for them to decide.”
Trump told CBS News on Wednesday that he remained committed to reaching a deal to end the war and said he continued to have a good relationship with both Putin and Zelensky.
“I think we’re going to get it all straightened out,” he said.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey has praised Trump, who he says “brought Putin into talks” and “not closed off any options”.
The Russian leader, who spent Wednesday with China’s Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, claims that his country’s military is pushing forward on all fronts in Ukraine.
He warned that without a deal Moscow was prepared to “resolve all our tasks militarily”.
Russia has rejected the idea of an initial ceasefire, insisting its campaign will not end before a full peace deal.
A source at the Élysée Palace suggested ahead of Thursday’s talks that there were several historical examples of ceasefires that had lasted without a full peace agreement.
The source pointed to the demarcation line between North and South Korea, where a ceasefire had lasted for years with a powerfully armed, allied American deployment serving as a signal to North Korea. That concept was extremely important for the Ukrainians, the source added.–Source: BBC
