“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized the importance of increasing pressure on Russia in order to force it to a just peace”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
This is how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted to the words of the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, that Kyiv should agree that some territories of Ukraine may remain under Russian control, at least “temporarily”.
“We emphasize that there can be no half-hearted solutions when it comes to human lives, freedom, common values, justice for Russian crimes, restoration of international peace and security. In this context, temporary solutions will not restore full-fledged peace, but will only postpone the war,” the statement said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized the importance of increasing pressure on Russia in order to force it to a just peace, the liberation of the territories of Ukraine and respect for international law: “This is a realistic scenario that we can implement with joint efforts,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.
Earlier, in an interview with the American publication The New York Times, the president of the Czech Republic said that Ukraine “will have to be realistic” about its prospects of returning the territories occupied by Russia.
“The most likely outcome of the war,” he said, “will be that part of the Ukrainian territory will temporarily be under Russian occupation.” But, according to him, this “temporary thing” can last for years.
On September 24, Pavel explained to journalists in New York that he did not say “anything that he has not said for a long time”, especially at the Munich conference, he “warned against unrealistic expectations.”
“I have never doubted that we should support Ukraine in restoring its territorial integrity, that this is the ultimate goal. We just have to be realistic about the time horizon and the price of achieving this goal,” Pavel said.
Prior to this, the German publication Bild recently wrote, citing its own sources, that President Volodymyr Zelensky, who plans to present his victory strategy during his visit to the United States, may declare his readiness to agree to a local ceasefire in certain areas of the front and thus temporarily freeze the situation. The Office of the President of Ukraine called the article a fake.
A recent survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) showed that 55% of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine “under no circumstances should give up its territories, even if this means the war will last longer and there will be threats to the preservation of independence.”
According to the survey, almost a third (32%) of Ukrainians surveyed in May 2024 expressed readiness for territorial concessions in order to achieve peace and preserve independence as soon as possible.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine will not agree to territorial concessions to end the war.