Czech president calls for efforts to end Ukraine war and safeguard Europe
Czech President Petr Pavel has called for every effort to be made to end the war in Ukraine and prevent its spread to Czechia.
Source: Pavel in his remarks at memorials in the Šumava Mountains honouring US soldiers who died in World War II on 7 June 2025, writes České Noviny, as reported by European Pravda
Details: The president paid tribute to US soldiers in two former Šumava villages, Zhůří and Gruberg, where one of the final battles of World War II occurred on 5 and 6 May 1945 between Hartmanice and Železná Ruda.
Reflecting on the past, Pavel noted the absurdity of young lives lost in the war's final days: "And unfortunately, it's happening today as well." He stressed that peace is not guaranteed and requires active effort to maintain.
"If there is a war in Ukraine today and people are dying just as senselessly, as absurd as it was here, for reasons many of us don't even understand, that is why we must do everything in our power not only to end the war in Ukraine but also to prevent it from reaching us as it has in the past."
In Gruberg, Pavel added that the causes of World War II serve as a reminder: "If we are not vigilant enough, if we do not respond to these signals in time, then perhaps our successors will wonder how it is possible that we did not see this happen. Just as we can be surprised today when we look at the 1930s and ask ourselves how it's possible that they didn't see it then."
Background
On 2 June 2025, EU Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius shared the assessment of Western intelligence services that a Russian attack on European Union states could happen within the next few years.
Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the country's armed forces estimate that Russia views the West as a systemic enemy and is building up its military power and preparing for a large-scale confrontation with NATO.
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