Czech President: ‘we all lose if Putin wins in Ukraine’

Russian victory in its war against Ukraine would amount to a defeat for the entire West, Czech President Petr Pavel said in an interview with The Sunday Times.

Pavel said that recent reports about alleged secret US-Russia talks — particularly discussions involving possible territorial concessions — evoke dangerous parallels with the 1938 Munich Agreement.

“If we allow Russia to emerge from this conflict as a winner, we all lose,” the Czech President stressed.

He drew a historical comparison between Nazi Germany’s use of the German minority in the Sudetenland and Russia’s recurring narrative of “protecting Russians”.

“Vladimir Putin is using the same narrative,” Pavel noted.

While he said he does not believe the West is betraying Ukraine in the way Czechoslovakia was once abandoned, Pavel warned that Western nations are showing “a lack of will to defend the principles they claim to uphold”.

At the same time, he acknowledged that Europe will eventually need a new security agreement with Moscow, similar to the 1975 Helsinki Accords, but only after Russia recognises the territorial sovereignty of all states and agrees to limit its aggressive behaviour.

“We simply cannot allow Ukraine to lose,” he highlighted.

On 8 December, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to travel to London for meetings with European leaders - UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz - to discuss key issues of international coordination and support for Ukraine.

Macron reiterated that unity between Europe and the United States is crucial for ensuring peace between Ukraine and Russia, insisting there is no mistrust among allies and that cooperation must continue.