Twenty European leaders gathered in Paris on Monday to send Russian President Vladimir Putin a message of European resolve on Ukraine and counter the Kremlin's narrative that Russia is bound to win a war in its third year.
"I have noted that more or less all the countries represented around this table have said ... that the common consensus was that we should be ready in a few years' time, for Russia to attack these countries," Macron said in opening remarks.
"We all agree we don't want to go to war with the Russian people but we're determined to keep escalation under control," he said, adding that the meeting was meant to see how to "do more in terms of military support and budget support".
Macron has invited his European counterparts to the Elysee palace for a hastily arranged meeting to discuss how to ramp up ammunition supplies to Ukraine amid what his advisers say is an escalation in Russian aggression over the past few weeks.
"We want to send Putin a very clear message, that he won't win in Ukraine," a presidential adviser told reporters ahead of the meeting.
"Our goal is to crush this idea he wants us to believe that he would be somehow winning."
After initial successes in pushing back the Russian army, Ukraine has suffered setbacks on eastern battlefields, with its generals complaining of shortages of arms and soldiers.
French President Emmanuel Macron says "we don't want to go to war with the Russian people". (AP PHOTO)
Addressing the leaders via videolink, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy backed Macron's warning about an escalation of the conflict: "We must ensure that Putin cannot destroy our achievements and cannot expand his aggression to other nations."
One area where there could be progress is on a Czech-led initiative to buy hundreds of thousands of ammunition rounds from third countries, something that France has been cautious about as it wants to prioritise the development of Europe's own industry.
"The goal is to collect enough money for ammunition that Ukraine needs," Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said before travelling to France.
Ammunition supplies have become a critical issue for Ukraine.
The European Union, though, is falling short of its target of sending Ukraine a million rounds of artillery shells by March.
"We must be able to deliver more shells. The principle is that shells will be purchased where they are available," the French adviser said.
"There is no dogmatic (French) position."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, United Kingdom foreign minister David Cameron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, as well as leaders from Scandinavian and Baltic countries, were among those attending.
French officials said Macron, who is due in Kyiv in March, was keen to seek solutions after a security conference in Munich this month, which coincided with the death of Putin's leading domestic opponent Alexei Navalny, failed to make progress.
"We're neither doomy nor gloomy," the French adviser said.
"We want Russia to understand that. Russia will have to count on us all collectively to end this war."
Without offering details, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has opposed military aid to Ukraine, said ahead of travelling to Paris that several NATO and EU members were considering sending soldiers to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.
