Two top officials from the Czech Republic and Poland last week analyzed the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

Both Hynek Kmonicek, ambassador of the Czech Republic to the U.S., and Radoslaw Sikorski, former Polish foreign minister and now a member of the European Parliament, agreed that Vladimir Putin made a calculated error in his strike against Ukraine and vastly underestimated the response of both Western and Eastern Europe.

"Nobody knows why he went into Ukraine," Kmonicek said, voicing the shock of most Eastern Europeans over the sight of Russian tanks and troops heading into Kyiv and other major cities in Ukraine.

The scenario that Russian forces "could end up in Prague" and the assault on a country which has sent roughly 140,000 emigrants to the Czech Republic were among the reasons his government responded quickly in support of Ukraine, the ambassador said.

Sikorski pointed out that Poland has the largest diaspora (community of people outside their homeland) of Ukrainians in Europe — 1 million, and, in his words, "we can take 1 million more."

"Putin thought Biden would be a pushover," said Sikorski, who also served as Poland's defense minister, "and when [Putin] was asked about 'deterrence' from the West, he laughed."

Both Sikorski and Kmonicek agreed that the vast underestimation of Volodymyr Zelenskyy by Putin and the unexpected heroic style of Ukraine's president has been a pivotal factor in the tide turning against Russia for now.

"Zelenskyy found his feet and called Putin's bluff," noted Sikorski, but added that "he moved slowly and could have mobilized Ukraine's forces 48 hours before he did."

Kmonicek echoed this view of Zelenskyy's dynamic rallying of Ukrainians and their friends worldwide. But he also warned that "there is new speculation and concern about the safety of [Zelenskyy]."  This was an obvious reference to published reports that Putin has activated the covert operations team known as the Wagner Group to assassinate Ukraine's president.

The Czech ambassador also said that events in Ukraine will lead to further discussion of the European Union becoming a "United States of Europe" with interlinked economies and defense.

"This will be the main question in Europe in the next 20 years," he said.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.