The Kremlin has responded after France's President Emmanuel Macron hinted his country could use its nuclear weapons.
Russia branded the speech "extremely confrontational", adding that Paris wants the war in Ukraine to continue.
It comes as EU leaders met in Brussels on defence spending a day after the European Commission called for a multi-billion dollar hike on the union's defence budget.
Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov framed Macron's speech as threats directed at Moscow from Europe. During his speech, Macron said that France could extend its nuclear umbrella to protect allied nations on the continent, without mentioning which countries.
Lavrov said Macron's rhetoric around nuclear weapons was a threat to Russia. "If he considers us a threat, convenes a meeting of the chiefs of general staff of European countries and Britain, says it is necessary to use nuclear weapons, prepares to use nuclear weapons against Russia, this is, of course, a threat," Lavrov said, according to state-run news agency, RIA.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Macron's speech could not be mistaken as coming from a leader who wants a peaceful resolution to the current conflict in Ukraine.
He added that the speech did not deal with Russia's grievance of "NATO expansion" towards its borders.
Macron spoke to his country in a televised speech last night in which he warned that Russian aggression "knows no borders". He said Ukraine is not Vladimir Putin's final goal, and that Russia is a direct threat to France and Europe. The president added that allied countries can no longer rely on American backing.
“I want to believe the US will stay by our side,” Macron said. “But we have to be ready if that isn’t the case,” he said.
“I’m speaking to you tonight because of the international situation and its consequences for Europe … I know you are legitimately worried faced with the historic events that are shaking the world order", he told the public.
“The war in Ukraine, which has left almost one million dead and injured, continues with the same intensity. The US, our ally, has changed its position on this war, supporting Ukraine less and allowing doubt to linger on what will come next.”
He explained how the world was becoming increasingly "brutal", adding that "it would be madness to stay a spectator in this world of danger".
Macron suggested that Ukraine's resistance is intimately connected to the safety for "all of us", meaning the rest of Europe, and that no path to peace would be achieved by "abandoning Ukraine".
Seemingly referring to Trump's attempt to bully Ukraine into peace talks, he said: “Peace cannot be concluded at any price.”
He said: “Who can believe today that Russia would stop at Ukraine?”
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