Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks with veterans of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine while visiting an exhibition in Vladivostok, Russia, on Thursday. (AP photo)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine, particularly while its invasion was still ongoing, would be considered “legitimate targets” by Moscow’s forces.

Putin’s comments came hours after European leaders repledged their commitment to a potential peacekeeping force, a prospect that Moscow has repeatedly described as “unacceptable.”

“If any troops appear there, especially now while fighting is ongoing, we assume that they will be legitimate targets,” he said during a panel at the Eastern Economic Forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.

Putin also dismissed the idea of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after a final peace deal, saying “no one should doubt” that Moscow would comply with a treaty to halt its 3½-year full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

He said that security guarantees would be needed for both Russia and Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later said Moscow would need “legally binding documents” to outline such agreements. “Of course, you can’t just take anybody’s word for something,” he told Russian news outlet Argumenty i Fakty.

European leaders pledge peacekeeping force in Ukraine

Putin’s comments follow remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that 26 of Ukraine’s allies have pledged to deploy troops as a “reassurance force” for Ukraine once fighting ends.

Macron spoke after a meeting in Paris of the so-called coalition of the willing, a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine. He said that 26 of the countries had committed to deploying troops to Ukraine — or to maintaining a presence on land, at sea or in the air — to help guarantee the country’s security the day after any ceasefire or peace is achieved.

Addressing the participants of the international economic conference the Ambrosetti Forum on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was important that security guarantees “start working now, during the war, and not only after it ends.”

He said he could not disclose more details as they are “sensitive and relate to the military sphere.”

Drone strikes continue

Russian troops attacked Ukraine overnight with 157 strike and decoy drones, as well as seven missiles of various types, Ukraine’s air force reported Friday. Air defenses shot down or jammed 121 of the drones, it said.

One attack damaged multiple residential buildings in Dnipro in central Ukraine, regional administration head Serhii Lysak wrote on social media. The regional administration also said that an unspecified “facility” had been set alight in the strike, but did not give further details.

Zelenskyy holds rare talks with Russia-friendly Slovak PM

The drone strikes were a key topic of rare high-level talks Friday between Zelenskyy and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, a tense encounter given Fico’s repeated calls for “normalising” relations with Russia.

Following the meeting in Uzhhorod, a Ukrainian city near the border with Slovakia, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would continue to “respond” to years of Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, despite criticisms from Slovakia and neighboring Hungary.

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