Russia warns French military trainers in Ukraine could be attacked

The military instructors from France who are training soldiers in Ukraine would be a lawful target for Russian strikes, Moscow said on Tuesday (June 4).

Russia’s statement came amid reports that France could send trainers to Ukraine. However, France does not officially have military personnel assisting Ukraine at the moment, but Kyiv stated recently, it was in talks with Paris on the issue.

"Whoever they are labelled as, whether they are members of the French armed forces or are just mercenaries, they are an absolutely legitimate target for our armed forces," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a news conference.

When questioned about targeting foreign instructors in Ukraine, the Kremlin offered no assurances.

"Any trainers who are engaged in training the Ukrainian regime will not have any immunity and It does not matter whether they are French or not," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Last week, Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrsky announced that French military instructors would arrive soon in the country, however, Ukraine's defence ministry retracted the claim.

Notably, posters were seen on a bus stop outside the French embassy in Moscow on Tuesday, that read, "French, do not repeat the mistakes of your ancestors."

The poster featured a black-and-white photo of a soldier in a beret with a French tricolour on his arm, and claimed it represented a Frenchman who had fought "against Russia on the side of the Nazis".

Moscow has repeatedly made baseless claims that the regime in Kyiv is neo-Nazi, asserting that it is fighting to liberate Ukraine from fascism. These narratives are rejected by both Kyiv and the West.

It is worth mentioning that French President Emmanuel Macron has refused to rule out deploying troops to Ukraine despite unwillingness from other NATO members and condemnation from Moscow.

Russia has warned against such a move, arguing it would dramatically escalate the conflict.

Russia has repeatedly vowed to destroy Western military hardware sent to the country.

Ukraine strikes Russia with Western weapons

Ukrainian forces on Monday (June 3) stated that they have successfully struck a Russian S-300 missile system with the help of Western-supplied weapons in the Russian territory.

“It burns beautifully. It’s a Russian S-300. On Russian territory. The first days after permission to use Western weapons on enemy territory,” Ukrainian government minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on Facebook while sharing the picture which showed the strike.

The Ukrainian strikes took place days after United States President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to carry out limited strikeswhile making use of US weapons in Russian territory near Kharkiv.

(With inputs from agencies)