French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Russia may attack NATO countries within the next few years, as evidenced by Moscow's actions in recent weeks.

According to Euractiv, at an informal summit in support of Ukraine in Paris on 26 February, Macron said that Russia cannot and should not be allowed to win this war and that the security of Europe is at stake.

"Virtually all the countries represented around this table have been able to say […] that the collective view was that we should be prepared for Russia to attack [these] countries in a few years’ time," the French President said.

He added that all leaders agree that they do not want to go to war with the "Russian people". They also expressed their intentions to continue to contain the escalation, as it happened after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

The publication notes that Macron's comments came after the military leadership of European countries has increasingly warned in recent weeks that they believe Russia will attempt to attack NATO in the next decade.

After the meeting in Paris on 26 February, Macron said that he wouldn't rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine in the future, although he stressed that there is no consensus among allies on this issue yet.

Macron also announced that Ukraine's allies will form a coalition to supply Kyiv with medium and long-range missiles.