Zelenskiy says thousands of troops could be deployed to Ukraine under security guarantees

By Yuliia Dysa and Max Hunder

KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday thousands of troops could be deployed to Ukraine under security guarantees proposed by its allies once Russia's war on his country ends.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that 26 countries had pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, including an international force on land and sea and in the air.

Macron initially said those countries would deploy to Ukraine, but later said some of them would provide guarantees while remaining outside Ukraine, for example by helping to train and equip Kyiv's forces.

"It is important that we are discussing all this ... it will definitely be in the thousands, not just a few," Zelenskiy said after meeting European Council President Antonio Costa in Uzhhorod in western Ukraine on Friday.

He said in response to a journalist's question that it was too early to comment on specifics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that any Western troops deployed to Ukraine would be legitimate targets for Moscow to attack.

In Uzhhorod, Zelenskiy said he had "coordinated steps" in Ukraine’s European Union accession talks with Costa.

Kyiv sees EU membership as key to its security and recovery after the war.

Zelenskiy was also due to meet Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Friday. Deputy energy minister Roman Andarak said in Copenhagen that Zelenskiy was expected to discuss a phase-out of Russian oil deliveries via Ukraine with Fico.

Slovakia is heavily reliant on supplies of oil from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline, whose infrastructure Ukrainian drones have attacked, causing repeated disruptions in supply that angered Bratislava.

Fico met Putin on Tuesday in Beijing, and said Bratislava wants to normalise relations with Moscow.

Ukraine has urged other countries to stop buying Russian oil to deprive Moscow of funds for its war.

U.S. President Donald Trump told European leaders on Thursday that they must stop purchasing Russian oil, according to a White House official.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Anastasiia Malenko; writing by Max Hunder; editing by Tomasz Janowski and Timothy Heritage)