Russia warns Western forces deployed to Ukraine under postwar security deal would be "legitimate combat targets" as diplomatic tensions escalate.

On the Pokrovsk front, Ukrainian forces repelled 43 Russian assaults near the settlements of Razine, Shakhove, Nykanorivka, Rodynske, Myrnohrad, Pokrovsk, Kotlyne, Udachne and Novoserhiivka and towards Novopavlivka and Filiia.

Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with 242 drones and 36 missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said Friday morning.

Russia doubled down on its longstanding position of declaring Western forces in Ukraine “legitimate targets” on Thursday, days after France and the UK pledged to send troops there in the event of a peace deal.

Russia said that any troops sent to Ukraine by Western governments would be "legitimate combat targets", after Britain and France announced plans to deploy a multinational force there in the event of a ceasefire.

Most Ukrainians see this as a ruse that could allow Vladimir Putin to circumvent Ukraine’s defences and continue his invasion. Even with its impressive fortifications, in the past few months Ukraine has been losing ground. Most of the city of Pokrovsk has fallen.

Ukrainian forces are under growing pressure in the south of the country, where less well-equipped units are vastly outnumbered by Russian brigades that have taken hundreds of square kilometers of territory in recent weeks.

WEST" of the National Guard of Ukraine carried out a successful assault on a stronghold of Russian invaders in Rodynske, part of the Pokrovsk community in Donetsk region. — Ukrinform.