France’s president said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had delivered an “electric shock” to the NATO alliance and given it a new strategic clarity that it was lacking.

Emmanuel Macron, speaking to reporters as he launched his campaign for re-election, was responding to a question about whether he regretted describing NATO as “brain dead” around two years ago.

“Russia has given us a wake-up call. I always considered that we needed a strategic clarification, and we are in the process of getting it. Events in Ukraine had given NATO that clarity because it brought it back to its origins”, - said Macron.

He said that he didn’t exclude going to Kyiv, but that his priority was to continue discussions with the Ukrainian and Russian presidents, with whom he would speak again in the coming hours.

“Without something tangible, going would be in vain. I will do it when it would be useful”, - he said.