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French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday accused Russian leader Vladimir Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism after Moscow announced humanitarian corridors to move civilians from Ukrainian cities, but only to Russia or Belarus.
"All this is not serious. It is moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable," Mr Macron told LCI television.
Promises to protect civilians only so they could flee towards Russia were "hypocritical", he said,.
"I do not know many Ukrainians who want to go to Russia," Mr Macron said, adding that full ceasefires to protect civilians were needed, rather than corridors.
Moscow announced the proposed escape routes from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and Sumy after Mr Putin and Mr Macron spoke by phone on Sunday, saying the move was taken after a "personal request" by the French president.
But the Elysee Palace said no such request had been made and Mr Macron described Moscow's announcement as a "PR stunt".
The situation was worsening by the day, he warned.
A top priority was to avoid "catastrophes" with Ukraine's nuclear power plants after Europe's largest such plant Zaporizhzhia was attacked and seized by invading Russian forces last week.
There are four active nuclear plants in the country as well as the Chernobyl plant, which was the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster.
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Cars are left abandoned on a road as residents flee the town of Irpin, Ukraine after days of heavy shelling. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier helps a family fleeing from Irpin. Reuters -
A bus passes the Duke of Wellington statue, which has a traffic cone in the colours of the flag of Ukraine placed on top of it, in Glasgow, Scotland. AP -
Ukrainian children sleep at the reception point at the train station in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Smoke rises as a Ukrainian soldier stands by the only escape route used by locals to flee from the town of Irpin. Reuters -
A man flees from Irpin. Reuters -
A screengrab from footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry shows a purported Russian tank unit advancement in the Kyiv region. AFP -
People walk on debris of residential buildings damaged by shelling in the Zhytomyr region. Reuters -
A damaged residential building after Russian multiple rocket launchers shelled the area in the southern city of Mykolaiv. AFP -
Ukrainian soldiers sit in their armoured vehicle after fighting against Russian troops and Russia-backed separatists near Zolote village, Luhansk region. AFP -
A woman offers accommodation for people fleeing Ukraine at the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. Getty Images -
A soldier holds a helmet as a wedding crown during the ceremony for members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces Lesia Ivashchenko and Valerii Fylymonov, at a checkpoint in Kyiv. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers carry a woman fleeing the town of Irpin. AP -
A factory and warehouse burn after being bombarded in Irpin. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers near Zolote. AFP -
A Ukrainian refugee boy, wearing a blanket on his shoulders, warms his hands with a gas heater shortly after crossing the Siret border into northern Romania. EPA -
People demonstrate against the Russian military operation in Ukraine in Buenos Aires, Argentina. EPA -
First responders work at the scene after a missile hit a building at Havryshivka Vinnytsia International Airport in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. Reuters -
A woman at a checkpoint on the road to Kyiv after her evacuation from a nearby town. AFP -
A placard in the Ukrainian colours is held up at an anti-war demonstration the Bebelplatz square in Berlin, Germany. Reuters -
A Ukrainian serviceman helps an elderly woman in Irpin, 20 kilometres north-west of the capital Kyiv. AP Photo -
Protesters cry during a demonstration in support of Ukraine at the Plaza Catalunya square in Barcelona. AFP -
A man walks past a machine gun at a checkpoint next to the last bridge on the road that connects the town of Stoyanka to the outskirts of Ukraine's capital Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian servicemen put a wounded man on a stretcher in Irpin. AP Photo -
People board a train to return to Ukraine after getting supplies in Zahony, Hungary. AP Photo -
Balloons in the colors of Ukraine during a demonstration against the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Mainz, Germany. AP -
A Ukrainian girl helps to weave a camouflage net for the Ukrainian army, in Odesa. EPA -
Molotov cocktails prepared by a group of volunteers in Odesa. Hundreds are made every day. EPA -
Ukrainian servicemen assist people fleeing the town of Irpin after crossing the Irpin River on an improvised path under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian air strike. AP Photo -
A woman holds a dog while crossing the Irpin River on an improvised path under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian airstrike, while assisting people fleeing the town of Irpin, Ukraine. AP Photo -
Marina Yatsko and her boyfriend Fedor comfort each other at a hospital in Mariupol after her 18-month-old son Kirill was killed by shelling. AP Photo -
Ukrainian civilians receive weapons training in a cinema in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP Photo -
Residents flee the town of Irpin, near Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
Ukrainian soldiers carry a sick woman as civilians flee Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, after Russian attacks. AP Photo -
Captured Russian soldiers at a press conference in the Interfax news agency in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
Ukrainians beneath a destroyed bridge in Irpin. AP Photo -
A woman fleeing Ukraine on a bus near the border crossing in Korczowa, Poland. AP Photo -
A Ukrainian soldier and a militia man help a fleeing family on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 5, 2022. AP Photo -
Smoke rises after shelling by Russian forces in Mariupol. AP Photo -
People at a hospital during shelling by Russian forces in Mariupol. AP Photo -
Displaced Ukrainians at the Resurrection New Athos Monastery in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP
But Mr Macron also insisted that "France is not at war with Russia", and that "what we want is to stop this war without becoming belligerents ourselves".
He spoke to Mr Putin on Sunday for an hour and 45 minutes, in the fourth time they had spoken since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Russia would reach its objectives in Ukraine "either through negotiation or through war", Mr Putin told Mr Macron, according to a French presidential official.
The official said Mr Putin also pledged "it was not his intention" to attack Ukrainian nuclear sites.
Later on Monday, Russia announced a ceasefire in Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Mariupol and Sumy from 7am GMT on Tuesday, so civilians could be evacuated to Russia or other parts of Ukraine through humanitarian corridors.
But later on Monday, Mr Macron said it was unlikely that Russia and Ukraine would be able to find a way to end the war in the days and weeks ahead.
"In the short term ... the war is going to continue to be waged," he said during a visit to Poissy, not far from Paris.
"I don't think that, in the coming days and weeks, there will be a real negotiated solution.
"Talks are difficult with Putin because he refuses a ceasefire," which was a condition for any real talks between Russia and Ukraine, Mr Macron said.
"Our responsibility" was to keep talking to the Russian and Belarusian people, as well as their leaders, and to "always respect Russia as a country" if there was to be any lasting peace.
"We are all full of admiration for the resistance of the Ukrainian people, their leaders and their president," he said.
Mr Macron said France would play its part in welcoming Ukrainians fleeing the war, and might also take steps to help relieve the pressure from Ukraine's neighbour Moldova, which has taken in more than 80,000 refugees.
