Putin warns European peacekeepers in Ukraine would be 'legitimate targets'

Vladimir Putin warned that European troops deployed to Ukraine under any post-ceasefire peacekeeping mission would become legitimate military targets for Russian forces, threatening renewed hostilities.

"The war would resume immediately," Putin said during a Kremlin meeting on Thursday, 12 November, with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

The Institute for the Study of War assessed that Putin remains committed to demands extending beyond Donbas and has revived Russia's December 2021 ultimatums to NATO and the United States, which called for halting NATO enlargement and restricting military deployments in Eastern Europe. "Putin remains unwilling to compromise on any of these demands," ISW said.

ISW further assessed that Putin's demand for "the state border" as the only line of demarcation reflects Russian insistence on full control of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions — including areas Russian forces have never occupied. Russia illegally declared annexation of all four regions in 2022.

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Moscow delegation at earlier Abu Dhabi negotiations, said Russia would reject territorial exchanges and continue expanding its security zone in Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

Putin's warning came days after a British- and French-led coalition launched exercise KOALICJA 26.2 on 9 November, involving 2,800 troops from 11 nations in Poland, France and Turkey, designed to prepare multinational forces for a potential post-war deployment to Ukraine.

Putin also proposed a humanitarian operation in Kostiantynivka modelled on a recent ceasefire in Oleshky. Zelenskyy adviser Dmytro Lytvyn warned Russia could use such a pause to rotate troops, citing the Oleshky precedent.