He drew a parallel between World War II and the war in Ukraine.
In an interview with ARD, Czech President Petr Pavel said that Western countries had provided Ukraine with “cautious support” throughout the war. In his opinion, if the help had come earlier, the situation might have turned out differently.
“I would not say that he (the West – ed.) has lost hope, but throughout the war in Ukraine, the West has been very cautious in its support. From the very beginning, it sought to prevent the escalation of the conflict. Each new stage was discussed for a long time before it was finally implemented. If we had skipped this period of discussions and risk assessment, Ukraine would have received this assistance several months or maybe even years earlier, and the situation could have been different,” the president said.
According to him, aid to Ukraine should be stepped up to prevent the loss of territories. “We must learn lessons from the past and provide aid now in the largest possible volume and as quickly as possible to prevent Ukraine from further loss of territories and human lives.”
The Czech president also said there were parallels between the outbreak of World War II and the situation in Ukraine, pointing to the use of minorities as a “pretext” for invasions – in Czechoslovakia, it was the German minority, in Ukraine it was the Russian-speaking minority.
