France, Feb. 21 -- President Emmanuel Macron said that France was entering a "new era" three years after Russia invaded Ukraine and that he planned to tell US President Donald Trump that he could not be weak with Vladimir Putin.

Macron also robustly defended Volodymyr Zelensky, the embattled leader of war-torn Ukraine, speaking ahead of a planned visit to the White House to meet Trump next week.

European response

Macron has sought to coordinate a European response to Washington's shock policy shift in US-Russia relations, hosting this week two emergency meetings with leaders of EU and non-EU nations including Germany, Britain, Canada and Norway.

He said he wanted the French to grasp the magnitude of the threat coming from the Kremlin,...