French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said he has not ruled following the example of Eastern European leaders and traveling to Kyiv, but said such a trip needed to come at the right moment and be useful for resolving the crisis.

Some European leaders, namely those of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, traveled Tuesday by train to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The trip to a city under siege, where Ukraine's military is fighting invading Russian forces just a few kilometers from the periphery, was hastily arranged and known only to a few people.

While other European leaders were informed of the proposed journey during a summit in Versailles last Friday, only a small number of countries were directly involved.

The three that eventually took part are deeply suspicious of how Moscow views nations once under its influence before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, concerns that have been heightened by its invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24.

More than 3 million people have also fled Ukraine in the last three weeks, nearly 2 million of them into neighboring Poland.

Asked about the danger involved, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters on Wednesday after his return from Ukraine that he believed it was worth the risk.

"There are situations where you have to decide for yourself, and I made the decision I made," the 57-year-old said.

"I was not alone, I had colleagues – the prime ministers, I had colleagues from my team and from the security service who were willing to complete the trip with me."

He told his wife about his plans, but asked her not to tell his mother or three children.

"They found out about it when it was published."

With him in Kyiv were Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, his Slovenian counterpart Janez Jansa and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful leader of Poland's ruling party.

They traveled on a special train from Poland's eastern border into Ukraine on Tuesday morning. By the time the trip became public, they were on their way to the capital.

It was not clear whether Russia knew of the visit.

A European diplomatic source said the plan was first mentioned to Charles Michel, European Council president, on the sidelines of the Versailles summit.

Morawiecki then let Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen know on Monday that they intended to travel the following day, according to an EU official. There was no European mandate.

It is not clear who else was approached to join them. French President Emmanuel Macron was not asked, nor was German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.