Czech president believes that temporary occupation of part of Ukraine may become price of its survival

In his opinion, it would be unfair for the West to pressure Ukraine to liberate all occupied territories immediately. According to him, the West does not want to see the Ukrainian nation wiped out.

Pavel noted that Ukraine is currently not in a position to liberate the territories occupied by Russia in the foreseeable future — even with Western support — without suffering heavy human losses.

"We want them to survive as an independent sovereign country. And if there is a cost to renewing Ukraine as an independent autonomous state, if the cost is to accept that part of the territory will be temporarily occupied, without recognising it legally, then so be it. We will never recognise these occupied territories as legally Russian," the Czech president said.

He believes that military aid to Ukraine must continue, but, in his view, the war cannot be won on the battlefield. He argues that a more powerful tool to force Moscow to the negotiating table is economic pressure from Europe and the United States.

Pavel stated that it was in the interest of both sides of the Atlantic to apply much greater economic pressure on Russia, as this pressure was highly effective in terms of its persuasive power. He believed that, given the current state of the Russian economy, Russia would not be able to withstand such pressure for long. Therefore, he argued, if these measures were implemented, Russia would eventually have no choice but to come to the negotiating table, despite its current refusal to do so.

Czech President Petr Pavel previously said that Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine could last for years if it continues in the same way.