Russia issues warning as European leaders, Zelenskyy meet in Paris before Trump call

LONDON -- Russia's Foreign Ministry again warned that Moscow will not accept the presence of any Western troops in Ukraine as part of a future peace deal, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared to meet a group of top European leaders in Paris on Thursday.

"Russia does not intend to discuss unacceptable foreign intervention in Ukraine in any form whatsoever," spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in comments published by the Foreign Ministry on Thursday. "Western war instigators view Ukraine as a testing ground for their military developments," she said.

Moscow has repeatedly rebuffed proposals for Western forces to be deployed to Ukraine in any capacity as part of a deal to end Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor, which began in February 2022.

Nonetheless, the prospect is still under discussion by NATO leaders and the Ukrainian government as an element of the security guarantees Kyiv says are needed to facilitate any U.S.-brokered peace deal.

Zakharova said Thursday that the protections under discussion "are not security guarantees for Ukraine, they are guarantees of threat to the European continent."

Zelenskyy will gather with European leaders -- the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" -- for further talks in Paris on Thursday. The group will then speak with U.S. President Donald Trump virtually at around 8 a.m. ET, according to a schedule published by French President Emmanuel Macron's office.

Macron welcomed the Ukrainian leader to the Élysée Palace -- which houses the presidential office -- on Wednesday.

"We are ready as Europeans to offer security guarantees to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, the day a peace deal is signed," Macron said while standing alongside Zelenskyy.

"The contributions that were prepared, documented and confirmed this afternoon at the level of the defense ministers in an extremely confidential manner allow me to say the preparatory work is complete," he added. The measures the pair discussed on Wednesday weren't immediately detailed.

"It will now be endorsed politically, and it allows us to do so in a solid way, and we will come back to you tomorrow, after these meetings and discussions, to say that we are ready for a robust, lasting peace for Ukraine and for the Europeans," Macron said.

Zelenskyy said that, although "we have not received any signals from Russia that it truly wants to end this war," he was "convinced" that a close union with Europe and the U.S. "will help us increase pressure on Russia to move towards a diplomatic solution to this complex issue."

Other European leaders attending Thursday's talks in Paris are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Several other European leaders are joining the meeting virtually.

The White House said Trump will speak with Zelenskyy on Thursday. The president is expected to join the discussion virtually.

Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Trump pushed back on one reporter's suggestion of his "lack of action" on Russia in response to its continued offensive operations and long-range attacks in Ukraine, despite his repeated threats of further sanctions and tariffs on Moscow.

"How do you know there's no action? Would you say that, putting secondary sanctions on India, the largest purchaser outside of China, they're almost equal, would you say there was no action that costs hundreds of billions of dollars to Russia? You call that no action?" Trump said.

The president was referring to the recent imposition of 25% tariffs on all imported Indian goods in response to New Delhi's purchases of Russian energy goods and military equipment.

"And I haven't done phase two yet," Trump continued. "Or phase three. But when you say there's no action, I think you ought to get yourself a new job. Because if you remember, two weeks ago, I did -- I said, if India buys, India's got big problems. And that's what happened. So don't tell me about that."

Trump and Putin met in Alaska nearly three weeks ago. After that event, Trump suggested that a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy should be the next step in the negotiations process.

The Kremlin has given no indication of its willingness to support such a meeting, though Putin suggested this week that a meeting could take place in Moscow.

Kyiv quickly dismissed that proposal. Foreign Minister Andri Sybiha said in a post to X, "Putin continues to mess around with everyone by making knowingly unacceptable proposals."

Trump told reporters on Wednesday he had "no message" for Putin. "He knows where I stand, and he'll make a decision one way or the other whatever his decision is will either be happy about it or unhappy and if we're unhappy about it, you'll see things happen."

"We've taken very strong action, as you know, and in other ways we've taken very strong action," Trump continued. "But I'll be speaking to him over the next few days and we're going to see with him. I'm going to know exactly what's happened."

ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge, Hannah Demissie, Will Gretsky, Yulia Drozd, Somayeh Malekian and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.