MOSCOW, July 15 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday that any multinational force sent by ‌Ukraine's allies to deploy there in the ‌event of a peace deal would be unacceptable to ​Moscow, which would view it as a threat and a legitimate military target.

Western allies in the pro-Ukraine "coalition of the willing" met in Paris this ‌week and reaffirmed ⁠their intention to deploy such a force after a cessation of hostilities, ⁠in order to reassure Ukraine and help it to regenerate its forces.

They also said that exercises ​would take ​place in the ​coming months to demonstrate ‌the ability of the planned force, known as the Multinational Force for Ukraine (MNF-U), to act.

"In this context, we would like to reiterate that the deployment of any military contingents from countries ‌of the so-called 'coalition of the ​willing' to Ukraine is ​unacceptable to our ​country," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria ‌Zakharova told reporters.

"I repeat: this ​would amount, ​de facto, to foreign intervention and an escalation of threats to Russia's security. We ​would regard ‌such units as legitimate military targets."

(Reporting by ​Dmitry AntonovWriting by Mark Trevelyan and Gleb ​StolyarovEditing by Peter Graff)