POLAND and the Baltic nations welcomed a proposal by French President Emmanuel Macron today to discuss using France’s nuclear weapons as a way to “protect” the continent from Russian threats, a move Moscow quickly dismissed as “extremely confrontational.”

The comments came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joined European Union leaders in Brussels for an emergency summit on defence and security.

On Wednesday, Mr Macron said he has decided to open a “strategic debate” on using France’s nuclear arsenal to protect European allies amid concerns over potential US disengagement.

The French president described Moscow as a “threat to France and Europe,” in a televised address to the nation.

France is the only nuclear power in the European Union.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Mr Macron’s speech was “extremely confrontational.”

“One can conclude that France thinks more about war, about continuing the war,” he told reporters.

In Brussels, several eastern European nations welcomed the move.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said: “We must seriously consider this proposal.”

He noted that “as always, the details matter, but France’s willingness in this regard is very significant.”

Baltic nations also showed interest in Mr Macron’s offering as they push for more defence spending by EU countries to avoid any possible future aggression by neighbouring Russia.

Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda praised a “very interesting idea.”

“We have high expectations because a nuclear umbrella would serve as really very serious deterrence towards Russia,” Ms Nauseda said.

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina called the French proposal “an opportunity to discuss,” stressing that more time was needed to have talks with other European allies and at the domestic level.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Irish parliament on Wednesday that the EU is engaging in an arms race.

“Peace is not achieved by investing and financing war,” she said.

“Every rule in the book [has been] set aside to enable €800 billion (£671.2bn) of investment in weapons of war. That’s not a peace strategy.”