Ukraine must be realistic about its war goals and accept that part of the territory could at least temporarily remain under Russian control, says Czech President Petr Pavel. According to Pavle, neither Ukraine nor Russia can expect to achieve their maximalist goals, he also said in an interview with The New York Times.
24.09.2024 00:00
Photo: Tony Hicks
A man holds a sign reading Azov as he takes part in a weekly protest in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, regarding the plight of Ukrainian defenders of Azovstal, who are still being held by the Russians.
Highlights
- The war in Ukraine lasts 944 days
0:00 Ukraine must be realistic about its war aims and accept that part of the territory could remain under Russian control, at least temporarily. Czech President Petr Pavel said this in an interview with the American newspaper The New York Times (NYT), published on Monday.
According to Pavel, whom the newspaper describes as one of Ukraine’s biggest supporters in its defense against the Russian invasion, it is time for Ukrainians and their allies to face what he says is reality.
“The most likely outcome of the war will be, (…) that part of the Ukrainian territory will be under Russian occupation, temporarily,” said Pavel, who is now visiting the United States. According to him, there are “a number of examples” of territories that are temporarily in the possession of Moscow.
According to Pavle, neither Ukraine nor Russia can expect to achieve their maximalist goals. “Talking about the defeat of Ukraine or the defeat of Russia is simply not going to happen,” he added, adding that “the end will be somewhere in between.”
“We see that Ukraine is not able to recapture all of its territory at the moment, that is a reality,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský also admitted. On the other hand, according to him, this does not mean that Ukraine will be dictated that it should give something from its territories to Russia, thereby confirming the claims of the aggressor.
Kiev is demanding the return of all Russian-occupied territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Russia, in turn, wants Ukraine to formally relinquish territory it claims – including four regions only partially controlled by Russian forces.
Lipavský emphasized that it is necessary to pay attention to important principles, such as the protection of the UN Charter and territorial integrity. “So that it is the Ukrainians who decide on Ukrainian territory,” he told reporters in New York. Most Western leaders express themselves in the same spirit.
The future of Ukraine will be the main topic of the UN General Assembly in New York this week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi will appeal for more military and political support during his speech here on Wednesday. He will also present a “plan for victory” to US President Joe Biden in Washington on Thursday and then make it public.
Zelensky, who previously ruled out direct talks with Russia, softened his stance in the summer and indicated that direct talks could begin in November. However, he did not back down from the demand that Russia leave all Ukrainian territory.
The Czech Republic, along with Poland and the Baltic states, is a firm support of Ukraine, but faces growing public pressure to limit its aid and pressure Ukraine to reach an agreement with Russia, the NYT wrote. According to a poll conducted this summer, almost two-thirds of Czechs would support a quick end to the war in Ukraine, even at the cost of part of the Ukrainian territory remaining under Russian control.
At the same time, Pavel rejected as “nonsense” the initiatives of leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who criticize military aid to Ukraine and want Kyiv to quickly ask for peace and stop draining resources that, in their opinion, would be better spent on Europe’s domestic needs.
“The matter has to do with populism,” said Pavel. “It’s easy to say: ‘Let’s stop supplying Ukraine with weapons and ammunition, and then peace will come by itself,'” he added. The Czech president called Orbán himself, with his vaguely defined “peace policy,” a “prototype of European populism.”
He added that as someone who has some experience in defense and security and knows Russia, he knows that there will be no peace if Ukraine declares that it will stop fighting. According to him, Russia “will not stop its military activities”.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
