Russia said on Thursday that any troops sent to Ukraine by Western governments would be "legitimate combat targets", after Britain and France announced plans to deploy a multinational force there in the event of a ceasefire.

An explicit commitment that Washington would backstop Kyiv was scrapped in the leaders’ final joint statement.

European Council President António Costa has said that the EU has been ready to take on a system of politically and legally binding security guarantees that will be triggered once a ceasefire takes effect in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the agreements were “a signal of how seriously Europe and the entire coalition of the willing are ready to work for real security.”

Ukraine’s allies praised major progress on a framework for international security guarantees designed to deter any future Russian attack, as part of efforts to end Moscow’s nearly four-year invasion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Macron ahead of the summit. French, British and Ukrainian military chiefs also met, with NATO’s top commander, U.S. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, participating in talks that France’s army chief said focused on implementing security guarantees. Army chiefs from other coalition nations joined by video.

The United States would lead a "ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism" with European participation if a peace deal is agreed in the Russia-Ukraine war, Kyiv's allies said in a draft statement seen by AFP ahead of a Paris summit Tuesday.

Ukrainian American pastor Alex Zaytsev has witnessed Russia’s war machine wreak havoc and tear families apart. When the full-scale invasion began in 2022, he initially remained in his apartment in the eastern city of Avdiivka and opened his church building as a bomb shelter for locals.

Germany has raised the prospect of a military involvement in securing a potential ceasefire in Ukraine during a meeting of Kiev's allies in Paris. "This could include, for example, us registering forces for Ukraine on neighbouring NATO territory after a ceasefire,