It is up to Ukraine to decide the time and terms of peace with Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.
Mr Macron said the international community would be there when the Ukrainian government chose that time.
He was addressing the opening of a three-day peace conference in Rome.
“To stay neutral would mean accepting the world order of the strongest, and I don’t agree with this,” Mr Macron said at the conference, organised by a Catholic charity.
There is concern that support from Ukraine’s allies in Europe might be eroded due to soaring energy costs with the approach of winter.
Pope Francis is due to conclude the Cry for Peace conference, sponsored by the Sant’Egidio Community, with a speech on Tuesday at the Colosseum in Rome.
Throughout the war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine eight months ago, the pope has warned against an arms build-up. But he has said Ukraine has the right to defend itself.
Mr Macron’s visit to Italy includes an audience with the pope at the Vatican on Monday.
Ukraine war latest - in pictures
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Smoke rises on the outskirts of the city during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Reuters -
Workers surround the Monument to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred with sandbags against damage from shelling in Mykolaiv. EPA -
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for talks before a meeting between the Russian president and the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Russia. AFP -
People take water from a water pump in Kyiv. EPA -
A woman walks past a damaged building in the town of Nova Kakhovka. Reuters -
A woman outside her home, which was destroyed during battles at the start of the conflict, in Yahidne, Chernihiv. Getty Images -
People shelter inside a subway station during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Reuters -
Firefighters at the site of a drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
A woman walks past the site of a Russian missile strike in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. Reuters -
Rescuer workers at a building destroyed in an attack in Mykolaiv. Reuters -
Parts of a drone lie on a street in Kyiv. Reuters -
A drone flies over the Ukrainian capital during an attack. AFP -
Ukrainian servicemen tow a captured Russian armoured vehicle in Rudneve village, Kharkiv. EPA -
A partially destroyed residential building in Saltivka, in Kharkiv. AP -
Ukrainian servicemen fire a captured Russian howitzer on a front line near Kupyansk city, Kharkiv. EPA -
Ukrainian servicemen near the recently retaken town of Lyman in Donetsk region. AFP -
An officer from a Ukrainian national police emergency demining team prepares to detonate collected anti-tank mines and explosives near Lyman, in the Donetsk region. AFP -
A boy playing on a destroyed Russian tank on display in Kyiv. AFP -
A young couple hiding underground during an air alert in Zaporizhzhia. AFP -
Ukrainian firefighters looking for survivors after a strike in Zaporizhzhia. AFP -
Workers fix a banner reading 'Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson - Russia!' to the State Historical Museum near Red Square in Moscow. AFP -
Residents try to cross a destroyed bridge in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. AFP -
Alyona Kishinskaya helps to clean up a shop as it prepares to reopen in Balakiya, Ukraine, after a six-month Russian occupation. Getty Images -
Alla, 12, has a swinging time in Balakiya, Ukraine, as life goes on despite the war. Getty Images -
Ukrainian flags in the town square in Balakiya. Getty Images -
A destroyed Russian command centre in Izium, Ukraine. Getty Images -
In what may be a final farewell, young Russian recruits - escorted by their wives - walk to a train station in Volgograd before being sent to war in Ukraine. AP -
Russian recruits board the train to Ukraine in Volgograd. AP -
Ukrainian soliders drive a tank at the recently retaken eastern side of the Oskil River in Kharkiv region, Ukraine. AFP -
Volunteers pass boxes of food aid on a destroyed bridge over the Oskil River. AFP -
Ukrainian soliders rest on an armoured personnel carrier. AFP -
A sign warns of landmines in Izyum, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
This crater was left after a missile strike in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. AFP
He addressed concerns that any talk of peace could be taken as a sign of lack of support for Ukraine.
“To speak of peace now, call for peace, might seem unbearable for those who are fighting for freedom — it seems like a betrayal” of Ukraine, Mr Macron said.
But peace cannot be “captured by Russian power. Peace can’t be the consecration of the law of the strongest, nor can it be a ceasefire [marking] the state of affairs".
“We want the Ukrainian people to decide at a certain point, peace, the moment and the terms of peace,” Mr Macron said.
“Peace will be built with the other [party], who today is the enemy, around a table and the international community will be there.”
He referred to his past meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the war’s architect.
Moscow’s aggression is “the fruit of exaggerated nationalism” and feeling isolated, the French leader said, adding that the aggression was unjustified.
“They were convinced that there were threats; that the rest of the world, the western world at least, would have tried to destroy Russia,” he said.
Ukraine bomb shelter is the only home 6-month-old Zhenia has known - video
Mr Macron warned against growing sentiments for nationalism on the European continent, where far-right political forces have gained popularity in some nations.
He exhorted the many religious leaders at the conference to foster ”resistance against the folly of war.”
Mr Macron condemned that “the Orthodox religion is being manipulated by Russia". He did not elaborate.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has fervently backed Mr Putin in the war against Ukraine, calling the invasion part of a “metaphysical” battle against the West.
Keenly aware of Mr Kirill’s closeness to Mr Putin, Pope Francis has sought, so far in vain, to meet the patriarch during the war.
Ultimately, Mr Macron said, nurturing peace in Europe depended on “equilibrium of respect, reciprocity, justice".
He cautioned against efforts in Europe to “drive out the ‘other’ in our society” in a quest for “ethnic purity, religious purity".
