Czech foreign minister says allies should not dictate peace terms to Kyiv

Western backers of Ukraine “should not dictate” peace terms to Kyiv and recognise that the country is in effect fighting against Russia to protect all of Europe, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said in an interview for The Guardian. “We shouldn’t be in a position where we dictate to Ukraine, with others, conditions for peace, if they are fighting for their own survival,” Lipavský said, when asked if it was reasonable for Ukraine to demand a restoration of the pre-2014 borders. At stake, the minister added, were the UN principles of territorial integrity and the international rules-based order. “Putin wants to destroy the principle that the borders of states are not changed by brute force,” he argued.