The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania walked amid the ruined buildings of the Ukrainian town of Irpin in a show of support which the Kyiv government hopes will be followed by concrete action to help it in the war with Russia.

Standing by gutted, burnt-out buildings, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, Italy’s Mario Draghi and Romania’s Klaus Iohannis, looked stern as they listened to a Ukrainian official explaining what had happened there.

“It’s a heroic city...marked by the stigma of barbarism”, - Macron told reporters. – “France and Europe have been standing by Ukraine and its population since the beginning”.

The leaders, dressed in suits but not wearing any visible protective equipment, were surrounded by heavily armed soldiers. Zelensky did not accompany them to Irpin.

Shown a slogan on a wall of a damaged building in Irpin that said “Make Europe not war”, Macron said: “It’s very moving to see that. This is the right message”.