Russian President Vladimir Putin has said any foreign troops operating as part of a peacekeeping force in Ukraine would be considered a “legitimate target” by Moscow.

It comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron said 26 of Ukraine’s allies had formally committed to deploying troops “by land, sea or air” to help guarantee Kyiv’s security the day after any ceasefire or peace is achieved.

Mr Macron stressed any troops would be deployed to prevent “any new major aggression” and not at the frontline, adding the force does “not have the will or the objective of waging war against Russia”.

Mr Putin quickly poured cold water on the proposals when speaking at an economic forum in Russia’s eastern Vladivostok region on Friday.

Directly responding to Mr Macron’s comments, he said: “If any troops appear there, especially now, during military operations, we proceed from the fact that these will be legitimate targets for their destruction.

“And if decisions are reached that lead to peace, to long-term peace, then I simply do not see any sense in their presence on the territory of Ukraine, full stop.”

Russia has long argued that one of its reasons for going to war in Ukraine was to prevent NATO from admitting Kyiv as a member and placing its forces in Ukraine.

Speaking today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was important that security guarantees “start working now, during the war, and not only after it ends”.

On Thursday, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Russia had no veto on Western troops being deployed to Ukraine: “Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for them to decide.”

‘Please come to Moscow’

Mr Putin also addressed the chances of a direct meeting between himself and Mr Zelesnkyy aimed at ending the war.

Such a proposal looked positive after the Russian met Donald Trump in Alaska last month, but Mr Putin said on Friday he did not see much point in such a meeting because “it will be practically impossible to reach an agreement with the Ukrainian side on key issues”.

However, he reiterated an offer he made earlier this week to host Mr Zelenskyy for talks in Moscow, which Ukraine’s defence minister previously declared as “knowingly unacceptable”.

“I said: ‘I’m ready, please, come, we will definitely provide working conditions and security, a 100% guarantee’,” Mr Putin said.

“But if they tell us: ‘we want to meet with you, but you have to go somewhere else for this meeting’, it seems to me that these are simply excessive requests on us.”

Speaking at a news conference in Paris on Thursday, Mr Zelenskyy said US mediators informed him about Mr Putin’s invitation.

“Our American partners told us that Putin invited me to Moscow, and I believe that if you want to avoid a meeting, you should invite me to Moscow,” he said.

However, he said the fact that the issue of organising a meeting arose was “not bad”.

Drone strikes continue

While talks to end the war continue at a diplomatic level, more heavy drone strikes were recorded across Ukraine.

Kyiv’s air force said Moscow attacked Ukraine overnight with 157 strike and decoy drones, as well as seven missiles of various types.

Air defences shot down or jammed 121 of the drones, it said, but 35 drones and seven missiles still struck 10 locations.

Elsewhere, Russian troops destroyed 92 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to its defence ministry.

Local social media channels in the city of Ryazan, approximately 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Moscow, reported that the city’s Rosneft oil refinery had been targeted. Ryazan’s regional governor said that drone debris had fallen on an “industrial enterprise” but did not give further details.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil infrastructure that it says fuels Moscow’s war effort in recent months.

Military analyst Professor Michael Clarke said Ukraine’s campaign on Russia’s oil refineries has been a successful one so far, but doubts it will hurt Moscow’s war machine too much.

“Will that directly affect the war? Probably not. Because the Russian military runs on diesel,” he said.

“It filters through to the war in the sense that it inconveniences and bothers the Russians and reminds the Russian population that this war has a cost to them as well.”

Hamas has released a video showing two Israeli hostages, one of whom says he is being held in Gaza City, where the IDF has launched a major offensive.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel were kidnapped during the October 2023 massacre and are two of 48 captives still believed to be held by Hamas, with 20 thought to still be alive.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his military to occupy the whole of Gaza, with troops and armour currently assaulting Gaza City, where around a million people lived before the war broke out.

On Friday, the IDF bombed a high-rise building in the city’s west that – without providing evidence – it said was being used by Hamas. The military claimed that civilians were warned beforehand.

Pictures from Gaza City show Palestinians running for safety as the building collapses.

Hostages appear in video released by Hamas

The video was edited and featured an exhausted-looking Mr Gilboa-Dalal speaking for around three-and-a-half minutes.

He appears in a car for some of the video and says that he is being held in Gaza City along with other hostages.

He says that he is afraid of being killed by Israel’s latest assault.

The video is dated 28 August. Sky News could not independently determine the date of recording.

Mr Gilboa-Dalal appears to be in the backseat of a car that is being driven around. At one point, he identifies a passing building as one belonging to the Red Cross.

Hamas has refused to allow the Red Cross to see the hostages.

At one point, Mr Ohel, 24, is also seen.

Family mark ‘sign of life’

In a statement, Mr Gilboa-Dalal’s family said: “We have received a sign of life from our Guy after six months since the previous video in which he was seen with Evyatar David watching their friends being released.

“Guy, Alon, and other hostages were transferred to Gaza, and we are deeply concerned for their lives. They must be brought home.”

But talks between Israel and Hamas via mediators – aimed at stopping the fighting and freeing the hostages – collapsed in July.

After the release of the video, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid urged Israeli negotiators to resume talks on a deal to free the hostages.

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Strike on high-rise building

The release of the hostage video comes as the Israeli military continues its attack on Gaza City, where residents say it bombed a high-rise tower on Friday.

The building’s management said it was being used for displaced people and denied it had been used for anything other than civilian purposes.

Footage of the strike showed the building collapsing and sending thick clouds of smoke billowing over nearby tent camps.

Father-of-two Ismail, from the city’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, told Reuters that his family feared they would not be able to return if they fled.

“We pray for a ceasefire,” he said.

More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began, Gaza health authorities say.

The war was sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel, when militants killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.

Fifteen people have been killed in Sri Lanka after a passenger bus veered off a 1,000ft cliff.

A further 16 people have been injured, including five children, a police spokesman said.

The crash took place on a mountain road near the town of Wellawaya, around 280km east of the capital Colombo, on Thursday night.

The spokesman said an initial police investigation has revealed the bus was travelling at a high speed when its driver lost control.

He added that the bus crashed into another vehicle and the road’s guardrails, before toppling off the cliff.

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Local television footage showed the severely damaged bus lying at the bottom of the precipice as rescue crews – including soldiers, police officers and volunteers – removed the injured people throughout the night.

Deadly bus accidents are common in Sri Lanka, especially in the island nation’s mountainous regions, often due to poorly maintained and narrow roads, and reckless driving.