Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that any Western soldiers deployed to Ukraine would be considered “legitimate targets” — after Europe pledged to provide Ukraine with troops as a “reassurance force” once a peace deal is signed.

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

The tyrant even warned against Western troops on the ground after a peace agreement, saying “no one should doubt” that Moscow would abide by the treaty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sept. 5, 2025. Getty Images

“And if decisions are reached that lead to peace, to long-term peace, then I simply do not see any sense in their presence on the territory of Ukraine, full stop.”

The Russian leader also added that security guarantees would be needed for both Russia and Ukraine.

Putin’s comments came a day after French President Emmanuel Macron said 26 European countries pledged to deploy troops for a post-war “reassurance force” in Ukraine.

Macron made the announcement after a Thursday meeting in Paris of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing,” a group of 35 countries supporting Ukraine.

Ukrainian servicemen prepare a drone for a training flight in eastern Ukraine on Aug. 12, 2025. AFP via Getty Images

Search and rescue crews inspect the remains of a damaged building struck by a Russian missile strike on Aug. 28, 2025, in Kyiv. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

The forces would go “where needed, be it on the land, in the air or by sea,” to help keep peace between Ukraine and Russia as part of a security guarantees package, Macron said at the meeting, also attended by US special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff.

The US is not a member of the coalition, but Witkoff — who has traditionally handled the Moscow side of American efforts to secure an end to the war — was in attendance representing the US.

“Now these military forces are not there to wage war against Russia — they are forces just there to ensure peace and to send a clear strategic message,” Macron said.

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky sits next to French President Emmanuel Macron during a press conference after the Coalition of the Willing Summit in Paris, France, on Sept. 4, 2025. via REUTERS

President Trump, meanwhile, has said he will not put US boots on the ground in Ukraine, but has previously been open to contributing air support.  

Moscow has repeatedly decried the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force as “unacceptable.”

Firefighters work at the scene of a Russian attack that injured several people in the Donetsk region on Sept. 4, 2025. Ukrainian State Emergency Service/UPI/Shutterstock

Putin’s warning also came as he deployed 100,000 Russian soldiers to the frontlines in eastern Ukraine — sparking fears he is ready to launch a new large-scale assault.

The Kremlin relocated the troops to the area outside Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian transportation hub in the Donetsk region that Russia has spent the last 18 months trying to conquer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Kyiv’s allies now fear that the latest push around the city is part of Putin’s strategy to make a big year-end push to conquer the remaining strongholds in the area and fulfill his ambition of capturing the entire Donbas region, Bloomberg reported.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, almost eight years after Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

With Post wires