The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has accused his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, of wasting his time considering any sort of dialogue with Russia.

Zelenskiy, interviewed by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Sunday, was responding to a suggestion by Macron that Russia should be “defeated but not crushed” and that the conflict in Ukraine would have to be settled by negotiations.

The two presidents spoke by telephone on Sunday. Zelenskiy later told the Italian daily:

"It will be a useless dialogue. In fact, Macron is wasting his time. I have come to the conclusion that we are not able to change the Russian attitude.”

On Friday, Macron urged allies to step up military support for Ukraine.

He also said in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche he did not believe in regime change, that there was little chance of a democratic solution from within Russian civil society and no alternative to bringing Putin back to the negotiating table.

Macron has drawn criticism from some Nato allies for delivering mixed messages regarding his policy on the war between Ukraine and Russia.

In describing their conversation on Sunday, Zelenskiy made no mention of Macron’s latest comments. The leaders discussed strategies, including joint decisions Zelenskiy said were due ahead of this week’s first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Before a brief visit to Paris this month, Zelenskiy said the French president’s tougher stand on Russia in recent months showed he had had undergone a significant change.