President of the Czech Republic urged "realism" regarding Ukraine's territorial recovery

Czech President Petr Pavel believes that Ukraine should come to terms with the likely "temporary" presence of some of its territories under russian control after the war ends. He expressed this in an interview with The New York Times, as reported by European Pravda.

According to Pavel, Ukraine "needs to be realistic" about its prospects of regaining territories occupied by russia.

"The most likely outcome of the war is that part of Ukraine’s territory will remain under russian occupation, temporarily", - the Czech president said, adding that this "temporary" state could last for years.

In his view, it is impossible to speak of a clear defeat for either Ukraine or russia in the current situation, meaning "the end of the war will be somewhere in the middle".

Pavel mentioned that there are "several examples" of territories temporarily held by moscow but did not specify what he meant.

Previously, Pavel had stated that russia’s temporary occupation of Ukrainian territories should not hinder Ukraine’s integration into NATO and the EU.