Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Sept. 24 reiterated that the full withdrawal of Russian troops from all occupied territories is necessary for a "just and lasting peace," after the president of Czechia said Kyiv should be "realistic" about achieving such a goal.
In an interview with The New York Times (NYT) published on Sept. 23, Petr Pavel said the "temporary" occupation of some Ukrainian territories by Russia is the most likely outcome of Moscow's full-scale invasion.
"To talk about a defeat of Ukraine or defeat of Russia, it will simply not happen. So the end will be somewhere in between," he said, adding Kyiv needed to be "realistic."
In a statement on its website that didn't mention Pavel by name, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said there can be "no middle-ground solutions," and the full withdrawal of Russian troops was "a realistic scenario."
"The withdrawal of Russian occupying forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders is one of the mandatory points of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky’s Peace Formula," it added.
"This and other provisions of the Formula will guarantee a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace not only for Ukraine, but for the entire European continent and the world."
As of late August, Russia was in control of around 27% of Ukrainian territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts are partially controlled by Russian troops. Russia claims to have annexed the whole territory of those regions despite not controlling two regional capitals — Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Moscow also controls all of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the illegal annexation of four oblasts in September 2022, and in June called for Ukrainian troops to leave these territories as a condition for peace negotiations, a proposal which was rejected by Ukraine.
Pavel later on Sept. 24 responded to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry statement, saying he had previously "warned against unrealistic expectations."
"I have never questioned that we should support Ukraine in restoring its territorial integrity, that this is the ultimate goal. We just have to be realistic about the time horizon and the cost of achieving that goal," he told journalists in New York.
"Defeating Russia in Ukraine at the cost of killing half the Ukrainian population is probably not a victory."
Ukraine says peace talks should be held on the basis of its 10-step peace formula, which includes a full withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
Zelensky is also expected to present his "victory plan" to President Joe Biden during his ongoing visit to the U.S. this week.
"There is not and cannot be any alternative to peace, no freezing of the war or any other manipulations that will simply move Russian aggression to another stage," Zelensky said in his evening address on Sept. 18.
Nate Ostiller
(Updated: )
