Russia is preparing to “wage war” against a weakened Nato should Donald Trump weaken the military alliance, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.

On the eve of a major week of diplomacy, Ukraine’s president warned Putin was pushing for a ceasefire to replenish his battle-stricken forces for future attacks.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Mr Zelensky also said Mr Trump had the leverage to push Vladimir Putin into ceasefire negotiations over Ukraine, but warned the Russian leader should never be trusted.

“I don’t know [if Russia] will want 30 per cent of Europe, 50 per cent, I don’t know. Nobody knows. But they will have this possibility” if the US withdraws its forces from the continent, he said.

His comments came on the eve of emergency talks between Britain, France and other European powers over deploying troops to Ukraine as part of any peace settlement.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Paris on Monday for the hastily-arranged summit with France’s Emmanuel Macron and Europe’s most powerful leaders.

Their gathering comes as the United States and Russia hold their first round of negotiations in Saudi Arabia later in the week after Mr Trump agreed to open peace talks with Putin.