Ukraine deserves to join NATO, new Czech leader says

Pavel, a retired general of NATO, told the BBC that Ukraine would be <x0moreally and virtually ready” to join the Western alliance after the conflict ended.

In his first international media interview since his election, General Pavel gave a strong defense of Western military support for Kiev, saying there should be no <x0 limit for what countries should send.

Speaking from the renaissance palace “Hrzansky”, several hundred meters from the Prague Fortress, he said sending Western combat aircraft like F-16 for it was not “tabu”, but he was not sure they could be delivered in a timeline that could be useful for Kiev.

US President Joe Biden has ruled out the possibility of sending F-16s this week, although Frenchman Emmanuel Macron has said nothing is disfellowshipped.

I am proud that my country is one of the first to have offered Ukraine considerable military assistance”, he told the BBC.

The Czech Republic was the first Western country to send tanks and infantry vehicles to 72 and BMP1 designed by the Soviets to Kiev, part of a series of heavy arms shipments reportedly started since March 2022.

Almost a year later, countries including Great Britain, the United States and Germany have begun responding to Kiev's repeated calls to send modern, Western production tanks such as Leopard 2s, Challenger 2s and M1 Abrams.

Perhaps very few people could imagine that Western countries would be willing to provide Ukraine with major combat tanks or long-range or anti-aircraft artillery systems”, he added.

Now, the Czech leader said, it was reality.

“but at the same time we see that it is still not enough” to counter Russia's important resources with people and materials, he added.

He acknowledged Kiev's disappointment with the speed of shipments, especially Western tanks, which were created in an explosive way to drill holes literally and figuratively through Soviet armoured formations,