Peace deal must reflect Russia’s role as aggressor, Czech military chief says
He said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
According to Řehka, the international community must apply sufficient pressure to push Russia toward ending the war, as it is currently showing no willingness to do so.
“Of course, it should not be peace at all costs – the worst thing that could happen would be to end the war at any cost and then simply return to ‘business as usual’. We should not forget who the aggressor is, who committed war crimes, who the victim is, and who is defending their country. Any outcome of this war must take this into account,” Řehka stressed.
According to him, currently, this is the war of attrition, which is extremely costly for both sides. “But if you compare the number of citizens and the size of the population – the pool for manpower – there is clearly an asymmetry, and it is not favourable for Ukraine if this continues indefinitely,” the Czech chief of the General Staff noted.
Asked why Western partners hesitated to provide Ukraine with the necessary weapons and supplied them in limited quantities, the Czech military leader listed several reasons.
In particular, he recalled that initially everyone was in shock, despite warnings that Russia might attack. At the same time, Ukraine was not part of NATO structures, so there was no pre-established mechanism for such a situation. However, the main reason for hesitation, in Řehka’s view, was politicians’ fear of entering an escalation spiral that could theoretically lead to the use of nuclear weapons – which would be a catastrophic tragedy for everyone, including Ukraine. In addition, many decisions were influenced more by public sentiment than by strategic analysis.
As reported by Ukrinform, Řehka also said that Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine served as a “wake-up call” that ultimately prompted the West and NATO to rapidly adjust their strategy, taking into account the lessons of this war.
