‘Unacceptable’: Russia responds to potential European military troops deployment in Ukraine

EU’s von der Leyen said Europe was preparing "pretty precise plans" for a multinational troop deployment to Ukraine which would be a part of post-conflict security guarantees.

By: Express Web Desk

September 4, 2025 09:05 AM IST

3 min read

Earlier, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he is ready to hold talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy if he is ready to travel to Moscow. (File Photo)

Russia has said that it has no plans to discuss any potential foreign military deployment in Ukraine in any format, and called the remarks by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to send European troops to Ukraine as “unacceptable”.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday told reporters that “Russia is not going to discuss a foreign intervention in Ukraine in any form or format that is fundamentally unacceptable and undermines any security.”

During an interview to Financial Times on Sunday, EU’s von der Leyen said Europe was preparing “pretty precise plans” for a multinational troop deployment to Ukraine which would be a part of post-conflict security guarantees that would probably have the support of US capabilities.

Russia’s Zakharova reacted to this plan of the European Commission’s president to send European troops to Ukraine, a move which has also been rejected by Germany. Berlin’s defence minister dismissed the remarks by von der Leyen as premature and said she lacked the mandate to discuss the matter.

Also Read | ‘Unacceptable proposal,’ says Ukraine after Putin offers to meet Zelenskyy in Moscow

“Those are things that you don’t discuss before you sit down at the negotiating table with many parties that have a say in the matter,” Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius told reporters on Monday.

Berlin’s Pistorius further added, “I would know better than to comment or confirm such considerations in any way, apart from the fact that the European Union has no mandate or competency whatsoever when it comes to positioning troops.”

The European Commission’s von der Leyen told Financial Times on Sunday that the deployment would include tens of thousands of European-led troops, backed by assistance from the US, including command and control systems and intelligence and surveillance assets.

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Earlier, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he is ready to hold talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy if he is ready to travel to Moscow.

A Ukrainian foreign minister rejected the proposal by Putin and said President Zelenskyy is ready to meet the Kremlin leader in any of the seven countries that have so far agreed to host the talks between them.

(with inputs from Reuters)

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