Putin is unrelenting on Ukraine demands in meeting with France’s Macron aimed at heading off invasion

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his call for “lasting, legally binding security guarantees” from the United States and NATO in a phone call Friday with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin said, after a top Russian official threatened that Russia would “retaliate” if its demands were not met.

Putin warned Macron that further NATO expansion was “unacceptable” to Russia, saying that United States’ and NATO’s responses to Russia’s demands did not take into account Russia’s key security concerns, the Kremlin said.

Both Washington and NATO ruled out ending NATO’s...