Czech president's statement urges security guarantees for Ukraine, says military expert

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

“Petr Pavel is a very consistent politician, he does not change his positions. He said that Ukraine would have only one chance to counterattack, and he remained committed to this idea. He is not afraid to voice his opinions, while many Western politicians are afraid to say anything,” Musienko said.

According to the director of the Center for Military and Legal Studies, the Czech president openly acknowledges that Ukraine is unlikely to regain all its territories through military means in the foreseeable future. He argues that an alternative solution must be sought, which would involve freezing the conflict, facilitating Ukraine's accession to NATO, and extending Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty to the territories under Ukraine's control.

“That is, he talks about security guarantees and notes that Ukraine should be accepted into NATO and the EU to make it clear that Russia will not attack in the future. He is spreading the thoughts that some politicians are listening to, those who are afraid to say them out loud. Pavel is trying to show himself to be a pragmatic realist, but this does not mean that he stops being a friend of Ukraine. All defense programs continue, we have a lot of them, and they are only developing,” Musienko emphasized.

• In August, Petr Pavel said that Ukraine's accession to NATO should not depend on whether it controls all of its territory.
• On September 23, Czech President Petr Pavel said that Ukraine “needs to be realistic” about its prospects for regaining the territory occupied by Russia.