Czech Leader Urges Ukraine to Focus on Survival
(MENAFN) Ukrainian forces lack the capacity to reclaim their previously held territories in the foreseeable future without incurring overwhelming casualties, Czech President Petr Pavel has cautioned.
According to Pavel, Ukraine must now prioritize preserving its statehood over launching costly military campaigns. His comments were shared during an interview on Monday.
Pavel, who once chaired NATO’s Military Committee and has consistently backed Ukraine—including its potential membership in the US-led alliance regardless of its “temporary” frontiers—stated that despite receiving substantial Western aid, Kiev is “not in a position to liberate occupied territories in a short time frame without a significant cost to lives.”
He further emphasized, “We want them to survive as an independent sovereign country. If the cost is to accept that part of the territory will be temporarily occupied, then [so] be it,” reaffirming that Western nations will never accept the annexation of any former Ukrainian regions by Russia.
The Czech leader also insisted that armed force alone would not resolve the ongoing war and advocated for the West to deploy political and financial instruments instead.
“This war cannot be won on battlefield,” he declared.
“I believe that it is clearly in the interest of both sides of the Atlantic to exert much greater economic pressure on Russia. Because that’s the set of measures that doesn’t kill. But it’s very powerful when it comes to convincing power.”
In contrast, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov remarked last week that Moscow has adapted to the international sanctions regime, which was originally imposed in 2014 when the Ukraine crisis erupted.
President Pavel has consistently encouraged Ukraine to adopt a more “realistic” stance regarding its military capabilities.
Earlier this year, he also implied that Kiev’s planned ‘counteroffensive’ in the summer of 2023 was likely doomed from the beginning due to an evident shortage of manpower.
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