By invading Ukraine, Putin loses allies in eastern Europe

By KAREL JANICEK
Associated Press

PRAGUE (AP) — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked the former Soviet satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe, drawing strong condemnation even from the region’s most pro-Kremlin politicians. For some of the countries that fled the Soviet bloc following a series of anti-communist revolutions more than 30 years ago, footage of tanks and troops rolling in to punish a nation trying to pursue its own independent course looks painfully familiar. Two until now major pro-Russian voices, Czech President Milos Zeman and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, didn’t mince their words in criticizing Moscow. Until just days ago, Zeman was insisting that the Russians would have to be “lunatics” to attack Ukraine. “I admit I was wrong,” he said Thursday.