Czech president recognizes West's mistake regarding Ukraine In an interview with ARD, Czech President Petr Pavel said that Western countries had provided Ukraine with "cautious support" throughout the war. In his opinion, if the help had come earlier, the situation might have turned out differently. "I would not say that he (the West - ed.) has lost hope, but throughout the war in Ukraine, the West has been very cautious in its support. From the very beginning, it sought to prevent the escalation of the conflict. Each new stage was discussed for a long time before it was finally implemented. If we had skipped this period of discussions and risk assessment, Ukraine would have received this assistance several months or maybe even years earlier, and the situation could have been different," the president said.