Ukraine Needs to Be Realistic About Goals in War With Russia, Czech President Says

President Petr Pavel of the Czech Republic, a former senior NATO general who has been one of Ukraine’s most robust backers in its war with Russia, says he thinks it is time for Ukrainians and their supporters to face what he says is reality.

With Russia-friendly populist leaders such as Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary disrupting European unity over the war and with the fatigue of 19 months of conflict “growing everywhere,” Ukraine “will have to be realistic” about its prospects of recovering territory occupied by Russia, Mr. Pavel said in an interview.

“The most probable outcome of the war,” he said, “will be that a part of Ukrainian territory will be under Russian occupation, temporarily.” But, he added, that “temporary thing,” could last years.

The Czech presidency is a largely ceremonial post but the views of Mr. Pavel, who was elected last year by a wide margin, are generally aligned with those of the country’s center-right government under Prime Minister Petr Fiala. Mr. Pavel has considerable influence on security issues as a former chief of the Czech military’s general staff and past chairman of NATO’s military committee.

Since the failure last year of Ukraine’s monthslong counteroffensive to retake territory, European officials have spoken increasingly in private about Ukraine’s slim chances of recovering much lost land. In public, they mostly recite the mantra that the shape of any future settlement with Russia is up to Kyiv to decide, not the European Union or NATO.

The question of Ukraine’s future will be a major topic at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, where Mr. Zelensky will be appealing for more military and political support when he makes a speech there on Wednesday. He will also present a “victory plan” to President Biden in Washington on Thursday before unveiling it publicly.