Vladimir Putin has declared that foreign troops fighting alongside Ukraine are legitimate targets, hardening Moscow's position as Washington pushes for the largest prisoner exchange of the war.
The threat came after meetings in Moscow with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who called the talks very intense and said the next round will be widened to include European nations. That expansion would put broader postwar European security arrangements on the table alongside the territorial disputes dividing Kyiv and Moscow.
Kushner said Russia and Ukraine have agreed to work toward a swap that could reunite thousands of people with their families, without offering details. Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the deal on prisoners as a real result and said he wants ceasefire efforts and de-escalation written into the agenda.
Putin cast the presence of foreign fighters as a threat to Russia's national security, with an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 foreign nationals now deployed in Ukraine, many reportedly recruited from Latin America. Ukraine has captured its first Indonesian prisoner of war, a 49-year-old man from Java, who reached Ukrainian lines after a drone strike hit his unit in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Zelensky used a joint appearance with Irish prime minister Micheal Martin to demand sanctions that reach deeper into Russia's war economy, targeting suppliers of ballistic missiles, attack drones and communications systems. Russian weapons plants, he said, sit within range of Ukraine's long-range strike capabilities.