The statement that Czech President Petr Pavel is calling on Ukraine to agree to the temporary occupation of some territories incorrectly reflects his stance. In an interview with the BBC, Petr Pavel emphasized that the West does not recognize the transfer of territories to Russia and advocates for preserving Ukraine’s independence, not for agreeing to concessions or surrendering land.
Propaganda news resources used an interview with the BBC by Czech President Petr Pavel to distort his words and claim that this leader also agreed that Ukraine would not be able to liberate its occupied territories and must accept their occupation «for the sake of survival».
In reality, Russian propagandists have once again distorted the words of a European politician to make wishful thinking come true.
Czech President Petr Pavel, in an interview with the BBC, discussed relations with Russia and a possible settlement of the war in Ukraine. The journalist asked about his previous statement regarding some territories of Ukraine that are currently occupied by Russia and should temporarily remain under Russian control — what does he think «temporarily» means?
To this, Petr Pavel replied:
«Right now, Ukraine, with all Western support, is not in a position to liberate occupied territories in a short timeframe without a significant cost to lives. And of course it will be very unfair for the West to push Ukraine to liberate all occupied territories right now, because we don’t want to exterminate the Ukrainian nation. We want them to survive as an independent sovereign country. And if there is a cost to renewing Ukraine as an independent autonomous state, if the cost is to accept that part of the territory will be temporarily occupied, without recognising it legally, then so be it».
The Czech President also listed steps that, in his opinion, could lead to the return of temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
