Czech president says West should give Ukraine everything it needs: ‘Anything else will be a failure on our part’

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published Monday, Czech President Petr Pavel said that the West should give Ukraine everything it needs to successfully restore control over its territory.

“We have no choice but to give Ukraine everything necessary for it to successfully carry out its mission to restore sovereignty and control over its borders; anything less will be a failure on our part. And a Russian victory will turn against us in the future, because it would only strengthen their belief that they can get what they want through force, and would lead all of the world’s regimes to count on the weakness of Western democracies,” the Czech leader said in a response to a question about the war.

Pavel also predicted that the coming winter will be “extremely challenging” since Ukraine has not managed to restore all of the infrastructure destroyed by Russian forces last winter. “It will be difficult for the population, and considering the indecisiveness of the countries currently supporting Ukraine, a sense of disappointment will grow,” he said.

Because Russia is producing more weapons, enlisting more soldiers, and negotiating with other countries for arms supplies, such as North Korea, Pavel said, “the next year may turn out even more favorable for Moscow if we miss the chance to support Ukraine [now].”