Macron warns don’t expect ‘miracles’ in talks with Putin over Ukraine

Emmanuel Macron has warned against expecting "miracles" in his talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow aimed at fending off a Russian attack on Ukraine.

The French president had been upbeat about the chances of finding a compromise over European security that would persuade Putin not to order an invasion but, on arrival in Moscow on Monday, Macron sought to play down expectations.

"We can prevent some things in the short term," he said in Moscow, but added: "I don't think there are short-term victories.

"I don't believe in spontaneous miracles. There is lots of tensions, nervousness," Macron added.

Before the high-stakes meeting, ​Moscow had​ also​ sought to temper expectations.​​"The situation is too complex to expect decisive breakthroughs in the course of one meeting​," said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.​ ​"​In recent days there has been nothing new on the topic of security guarantees for Russia, our western interlocutors prefer not to mention this topic.​"

Macron's meeting with Putin was part of a frenetic day of diplomacy under the shadow of a possible new war in Europe. Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was meeting Joe Biden at the White House and the country's foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, was in Kyiv, assuring the Ukrainian government of support. Meanwhile, the US and the EU held talks in Washington on how to keep energy supplies flowing to Europe if Russia turned off the flow of natural gas.

Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, led the European delegation to Washington to discuss emergency energy supplies to the continent if the pipeline running through Ukraine was severed.