Czech president: Ukraine must make painful concessions for peace

Czech President Petr Pavel has said that Ukraine has to make "painful concessions" to end the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Pavel acknowledged during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv there was no resolution to the war in Ukraine without the United States.

"It is painful for Europe that the key role is still played by the United States. But that does not mean Europe and European countries should stand aside from these efforts," he stressed.

Pavel added that any potential peace agreement in the Russo-Ukrainian war will require Kyiv to accept "a number of painful concessions".

"I believe there are also a number of painful concessions there [in the 'peace plan' – ed.] which Ukraine has to make and is ready to make provided this leads to peace," the president said.

Pavel also said that Europe must make "every effort" to ensure the work done in preparing documents for a peace agreement "is not in vain".

"I believe Ukraine has done a great deal to make the proposed solution acceptable."

US President Donald Trump said that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, rather than Russian leader Vladimir Putin, is slowing down a potential peace deal. Zelenskyy denied this.

Before Trump's latest comments about Zelenskyy, The Telegraph reported that Donald Trump is becoming increasingly frustrated with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and now sees him as a bigger obstacle to peace in Ukraine than Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

At a recent press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump expressed his personal irritation with the Russian leader, saying: "I'm not thrilled with Putin; he kills too many people."