Czech president: Only Ukraine, Russia can talk about war fatigue

President Petr Pavel of the Czech Republic addressed the issue in an interview with Le Monde, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Honestly, only Ukraine and Russia can talk about ‘fatigue’... In our countries, we can say that we have grown used to this war, but this isn’t fatigue. Our cities are not being bombed, our citizens are not being killed. Our only burden of helping Ukraine is receiving refugees and seeing a certain decrease in comfort. We do not experience suffering," the Czech leader emphasized.

At the same time, according to Pavel, if some politicians are "so irresponsible as to use inflation or rising energy prices to turn voters against aid to Ukraine, we will have problems in Europe."

"We must have the courage to tell our fellow citizens that helping Ukraine is in our interest," the Czech president emphasized.

In this context, he expressed disappointment over the fact that the revision of the EU budget with the aim of providing Ukraine with financial assistance of EUR 50 billion over the next four years was blocked due to Hungary’s position.

"If we believe that the war in Ukraine is evil against legal order, that it affects the foundations of our societies, we must support the country, whether we like it or not. Not out of love for Ukrainians, but to defend our way of life. If we allow Russia to win, it will create a threat to our own security, our future," Pavel said.

He added that the sooner the issue of financial assistance to Ukraine is resolved, the better for everyone.

Pavel attributes the fact that the Ukrainian counteroffensive did not yield the expected results primarily to the fact that the partners had not provided Kyiv with all the required weapons systems.

"Partner countries were reluctant to supply modern equipment, some elements arrived later, and when Ukraine launched a counteroffensive, the balance of forces did not allow for quick success," he said, noting that what the Ukrainians managed to do with the available resources cannot but to amaze.

Among the reasons for a slow counteroffensive, Pavel mentioned that there was often no required equipment in stock; that European economies and their defense industries operate in peacetime mode, so when the EU promised a million artillery rounds, no steps were taken to boost their production. In addition, for security reasons, countries sought to hold certain state-of-the-art technologies to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Russians. At the same time, according to the president of the Czech Republic, there may be reasons of a political nature, stopping short of clarifying.

As reported, at the EU summit on December 14-15 in Brussels, the leaders were unable to agree on a package of financial assistance to Ukraine due to the veto imposed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The issue will once again be put on the table in January 2024.

Photo: Mikuláš Křepelka / INCORP images