Screenshot: YouTube / Emmanuel Macron 

French President Emmanuel Macron sounded a bleak warning about the threat posed to Europe by Russia in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, warning that it was no longer possible to “take Russia at its word”.

Insisting that the “future of Europe should not be decided in Washington or Moscow,” Macron urged Europe to “recognise the Russian threat” and to arm itself appropriately. “The road to peace cannot involve abandoning Ukraine,” Macron continued, rejecting the possibility of a peace deal that would effectively force Ukraine to capitulate while handing Vladimir Putin the victory he’s so far been unable to achieve on the battlefield.

Stressing that the Kremlin could not be trusted to negotiate in good faith and noting its plans to have “300,000 more soldiers, 3,000 more tanks and 300 more fighter planes” by 2030, Macron asked “who can believe that the Russia of today will stop at Ukraine? As I speak and for years to come, Russia has become a threat to France and to Europe.”

“I want to believe that the United States will remain at our side, but we must be ready if this is not the case,” Macron continued, adding that France would host a meeting of defence chiefs from countries committed to guaranteeing peace in Ukraine in Paris next week.

Macron confirmed that Paris would be willing to send troops to Ukraine “once peace has been signed” and said that while France would soon have doubled its defence budget over the past decade, “additional investments, which have now become essential” would still need to be made.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his appreciation to the French president on X, saying that any peace had to be “just, reliable, and lasting, and this can only be achieved through strong and long-term security guarantees — for Ukraine, Europe, and the entire world.”