Parts of Ukraine may need to remain under temporary Russian occupation due to the war, Czech President Petr Pavel has said.
Pavel was speaking ahead of a UN General Assembly in New York expected to be dominated by the Russia-Ukraine war.
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A former general and a champion of the Ukrainian cause, Pavel told The New York Times that Ukraine “will have to be realistic” about “its prospects of recovering territory occupied by Russia.”
“The most probable outcome of the war will be that a part of the Ukrainian territory will be under Russian occupation temporarily,” he said, adding that “neither Ukraine nor Russia” are likely to achieve their objectives in the ongoing conflict.
“To talk about a defeat of Ukraine or defeat of Russia, it will simply not happen,” he said.
Ukraine has made clear that recovering all its territory now under Russian occupation is a priority, but whether it has the military and political capacity to achieve this has become a source of intense debate.
The Czech president also criticized “Russia-friendly populist leaders like Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán” for undermining European unity, saying it was “nonsense” that such politicians are arguing Ukraine should seek peace and stop “draining” Europe’s resources.
“As someone with some experience with defense and security, and with knowledge of Russia, I know that peace will not come from a declaration by Ukraine that it will stop fighting,” he said.
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Russia “will not stop its military activities,” he added.
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