Russian President Vladimir Putin told US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Thursday that any foreign troops deployed in Ukraine would be "legitimate targets" for Russia, in a televised opening exchange that set out Moscow's hard lines after this week's Abu Dhabi peace talks, the Associated Press reported.

Source: Associated Press via KSFR/NPR

The meeting, which lasted about two hours, was the envoys' briefing to Putin on the two days of US-mediated negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11. Those talks ended on Wednesday with an agreement on a large-scale prisoner exchange but no major breakthrough on territory, security guarantees or a ceasefire — the earlier development this story follows.

The Abu Dhabi talks ended with a prisoner-exchange agreement while core disputes remained unresolved. Read the Abu Dhabi talks report

'Eternal peace' — with Moscow's conditions

Putin said he wanted any settlement of the war to last indefinitely, using the phrase "eternal peace" as he opened the meeting, according to reports of the televised exchange. But he said he would not water down Russia's territorial demands, ruled out foreign peacekeeping troops, and said the only acceptable dividing line is the state border — rejecting proposed "grey zones", AFP reported via Sweden Herald and Rapporteur.

Putin reaffirmed that any European troops sent to Ukraine after a ceasefire would be "absolutely unacceptable", that Russia would regard the deployment as a security threat and as legitimate targets, and that, in his words, the war would resume immediately, AP reported. He called such a deployment a "continuation of war" and a "vicious circle", according to AFP reporting. Ukraine says a foreign security presence is crucial to prevent another Russian attack — that demand and Moscow's rejection remain directly opposed.

Europe's place at the table — and a Kostiantynivka proposal

Kushner said one goal of the meeting was to win Putin's blessing for European representatives to join the talks, which are also looking at the continent's broader security arrangements, AP reported. Moscow, however, does not want European countries involved in the direct negotiations, complaining that they are financing and supplying Ukraine's military effort, AP added. Russian presidential aides Yuri Ushakov and Vladimir Medinsky and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev also attended.

Putin also proposed a joint Russian-Ukrainian humanitarian mission to evacuate civilians from Kostiantynivka in eastern Donetsk region — a figure of about 400 to 500 civilians was reported — under a limited ceasefire similar to one recently implemented in Russian-occupied Oleshky, Interfax reported via The Independent and AFP reported via Sweden Herald. Putin's claim about control of the city is Moscow's claim; no Ukrainian confirmation of the proposal was reported in these accounts.

No agreement to end the war was announced. Witkoff and Kushner were next scheduled to fly to Dublin to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is attending the European Political Community summit there, on the Kremlin meeting.