France will not trade nuclear strikes with Russia over Ukraine

France will not respond with nuclear weapons should Russia use them against Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

“Our doctrine rests on the fundamental interests of the nation," Mr Macron told public broadcaster France 2 on Wednesday.

"They are defined clearly and wouldn’t be directly affected at all if, for example, there was a ballistic nuclear attack in Ukraine, in the region."

It was the first time Mr Macron has discussed France’s nuclear deterrence doctrine regarding Ukraine in detail, but he said it was not good to talk about it too much.