Putin Said European Troops in Ukraine Would Mean 'a War With Russia.' The Next Morning, Russian Strikes Killed Eight Ukrainians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that any European deployment of troops into Ukraine would amount to direct conflict with Moscow, and within hours Russian drones and missiles were hitting Ukrainian cities again. Local officials said eight civilians were killed and dozens wounded in overnight and Saturday attacks.

Putin made the comments to reporters at the BRICS summit of emerging economies in India. "Now they're talking about how they're considering sending troops into Ukraine. That means a war with Russia," he said. Several European leaders have committed in principle to a peacekeeping force for Ukraine as part of any settlement, a prospect the Kremlin has repeatedly called unacceptable.

In the same remarks, Putin denied that Russia threatens the continent at all. "There is no such threat and never has been," he said. "We do not threaten, nor do we intend to threaten, European countries."

Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, had said Thursday that two incidents along Ukraine's borders this week looked like a preview of intensified Russian provocations at crossing points with Europe. Two people died when Russian drones hit the Starokozache crossing between Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday night, and Tusk said a "direct threat" to a Polish-Ukrainian crossing on Wednesday night was avoided only through cooperation between Warsaw and Kyiv.

The strikes that followed Putin's warning fit the pattern of Russia's intensifying air campaign, which uses ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to punch through defenses and has focused on the power grid ahead of winter. In Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said two people were killed and one wounded when drones struck a residential area overnight. One person died and three were wounded in Kryvyi Rih. In and around the Black Sea port of Odesa, 35 people were wounded in what regional head Oleh Kiper called a "massive attack" that destroyed the upper floors of a residential high-rise. On Saturday, three people were killed when drones hit cars in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, and two more died in an attack on a grocery store in the Zhytomyr region.

Ukraine hit back inside Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces struck two chemical industry facilities, one in Samara and one in Perm. Regional governors did not immediately comment, though the independent Russian outlet Astra reported drone attacks on chemical plants in both regions.

The diplomatic track moved in circles. Zelenskyy told Deutsche Welle in an interview published Saturday that he would meet Putin if both were invited to the G20 summit in Miami in December. Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the Russian leader's attendance had not been discussed. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated Moscow's standing offer, which Kyiv has rejected: "If he really wants to meet with Putin, Putin has already said that he could fly to Moscow." Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia is "ready for negotiations" but that its "special military operation" would not pause while any talks take place.

President Trump, who spoke with Putin by phone Wednesday, said afterward he had a "great conversation" and repeated his belief that the Russian leader wants a deal. Asked what the holdup is, Trump answered: "The holdup is two people that hate each other. I think more than anything else, it's two people that hate each other."