Le Monde cited French government sources on Friday saying Paris and Berlin were  “perplexed” about the “alarmist” tone coming from Washington and London about troop deployments.

“We can see the same number of trucks, tanks, personnel. We have observed the same movements but we cannot deduce from all this that invasion is imminent,” a source told Le Monde, asking whether “perhaps the British and Americans have intelligence” permitting them to come to this conclusion.

The source said France is willing to help but “we don’t know what the Americans want to do militarily or otherwise” in the event of war.

Mr Biden admitted on Wednesday that Western countries could be divided over how to respond if Vladimir Putin launches a “minor incursion” rather than a full invasion.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, hit back at the remarks, saying there were “no minor incursions” into a sovereign country.

Britain began airlifting anti-tank weapons to Ukraine earlier this week.

The Czech Republic and the Baltic States have said they will supply weapons to Ukraine including artillery rounds.

Wokpe Hoekstra, the Dutch foreign minister, said on Friday that his government would “look sympathetically” at any new Ukrainian requests from weapons via Nato.

The Netherlands previously joined Germany in blocking a request in December. Mr Hoekstra said the context had changed since then.