Czech President Petr Pavel has said that Ukraine must accept the territorial losses to Russia.  Pavel, a former NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Military Committee chair and longtime supporter of Ukraine, believes that Kiev should join the United States-led bloc, without the territory Russia has regained through the war.

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Pavel made the remarks in a BBC interview on Monday, claiming that despite its Western backing, Kiev is “not in a position to liberate occupied territories in a short time frame without a significant cost to lives,” the president said.

Despite its Western backing, Kiev is going to lose territory, since they don’t have the strength or military might to reclaim it and defend it long-term. Kiev is “not in a position to liberate occupied territories in a short time frame without a significant cost to lives,” the president said.

”We want them to survive as an independent sovereign country. If the cost is to accept that part of the territory will be temporarily occupied, then [so] be it,” he added, stressing that the West will never recognize any former Ukrainian region as Russian.

Pavel has also said military force alone will not end the conflict, and called on the West to rely on economic and political tools, according to a report by RT. “This war cannot be won on the battlefield,” he stated. “I believe that it is clearly in the interest of both sides of the Atlantic to exert much greater economic pressure on Russia. Because that’s the set of measures that doesn’t kill. But it’s very powerful when it comes to convincing power.”

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Russia has long insisted that a peace deal with Ukraine must include recognition of Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye Regions as parts of Russia. The regions voted to join the country in referendums in 2014 and 2022.

Russia has also demanded that Ukraine give up its bid to join NATO and commit to demilitarization and denazification. Kiev has rejected these terms.