French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday it's up to Ukraine to decide the time and terms of peace with Russia, and he cautioned that the end of war “can't be the consecration of the law of the strongest.”
Speaking at the opening of a three-day peace conference in Rome, Macron said the international community will be there when the Ukrainian government chooses that time.
Pope Francis is scheduled to conclude the Cry for Peace conference, sponsored by the Sant'Egidio Community, with a speech Tuesday at the Colosseum. Macron, a pro-European centrist, tweeted a photo of the meeting in the evening, writing that “as Europeans, as neighboring countries, as friendly peoples, with Italy we must continue all the work started."
But peace cannot be “captured by Russian power,'' he said. ”Peace can't be the consecration of the law of the strongest, nor can it be a cease-fire the state of affairs." Italy's main populist opposition leader, former Premier Giuseppe Conte, last week said Italy shouldn't send more arms to Ukraine.Moscow's aggression is “the fruit of exaggerated nationalism” and feeling isolated, the French leader said, noting the aggression was unjustified.
With many religious leaders at the conference, the president exhorted them to foster ”resistance against the folly of war."