PARIS, April 29, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - President Emmanuel Macron will welcome Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to France on May 9 to sign a "friendship treaty", the French president said on Monday in an interview with French weekly Paris Match.

Poland is a staunch ally of neighbouring Ukraine and has warned in recent months that Moscow might seek to interfere with its May 18 presidential election through cyberattacks and disinformation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered a truce with Ukraine on May 8-10 to coincide with Moscow's World War II commemorations, drawing ire from Ukraine, which demanded Moscow pause hostilities immediately.

"I will welcome the Polish prime minister to Nancy on May 9 to sign a friendship treaty, which is a historic first between Poland and France," said Macron, referring to a city in eastern France.

The signing of the treaty on May 9 will coincide with Putin presiding over a massive parade in Moscow on the same day, as Russia marks victory in World War II.

The French president also announced Germany's incoming leader Friedrich Merz would make his first visit as chancellor to Paris on May 7.

Merz pledged a spirited defence of Ukraine and of democratic values as he named his new cabinet on Monday, less than a week before he is set to take power in Europe's top economy.

European unity is "under threat" from Russia's war in Ukraine, said Merz, adding the more than three-year-old war in Ukraine "is directed against the entire political order of the European continent".