Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based international organizations, has called the discussions by EU and other nations proposing the deployment of troops into Ukraine, to be a provocation. “Hypothetical deployment of foreign troops on the territory of Ukraine is being actively discussed in the West,” he wrote on X, Aug. 19. “Those who promote this idea seem to be trying to undermine diplomatic efforts and make a peace deal impossible. Moscow made it absolutely clear that the deployment of foreign military contingents in Ukraine is totally ruled out. It is high time to put an end to provocative debates of this kind.”