Ukraine update: Three in 10 adult refugees from Ukraine in Czechia are under 30

A daily dispatch on how the war in Ukraine is impacting life in the Czech Republic.

Expats.cz Staff

Written by Expats.cz Staff Published on 11.07.2022 12:49:00 (updated on 16.07.2022) Reading time: 7 minutes

July 16, 2022

The conflict in Ukraine will most probably reach a stalemate situation, Zdeněk Petráš from the Czech Defence University told local reporters, adding that arms supplies from the west are vital for Ukraine.

"For Ukraine, the pattern [of arms supplies] means that it has enough soldiers at its disposal, but does not have enough western equipment for the time being," Petráš said. He added that Soviet-era equipment owned by Ukraine and supplied by allies such as Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia, has been more or less exhausted at this stage.

"Weapons and ammunition have been coming from western countries irregularly, and another factor is the [Ukrainians'] insufficient training and preparedness for the operational use [of the western equipment]," Petráš says.

July 14, 2022

refugees Three in 10 adult refugees from Ukraine are under 30

  • A total of 28 percent of adult war refugees from Ukraine arriving in the Czech Republic were aged under 30, and one-third of the refugee households consist of a mother with one or two children, a study shows.
  • Over one-third of the refugees are university graduates, and over two-fifths have found accommodation with local families in the Czech Republic.

support Instead of the removed pro-Ukraine billboard, three new ones hang

  • The Hradec Králové association Mluvme together put up two billboards in the city calling for a contribution to the collection of the Ukrainian Embassy for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine. 
  • The same billboard was removed from a leased space about a month ago because, according to the advertising agency, it was causing negative reactions.
  • The association then collected more money and reached an agreement with the owners of two different spaces.
  • A third space was rented in Havlíčkův Brod by a man who learned about the case.

integration 40,000 Ukrainian children enrolled in schools, much fewer than expected

  • About 40,000 children from Ukraine have applied to schools, according to the not-yet-closed data from registrations that end on Friday. 


  • This is 30,000 fewer than, according to statistics, came to the Czech Republic after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. 


July 13, 2022

Gathering and analyzing the evidence on the crimes committed in Ukraine will be a legal as well as technical challenge to Eurojust, Lukáš Starý, a Czech official in Eurojust, said. Starý came to Prague to present the issue at an informal meeting of EU justice ministers that was held in Prague on Monday and Tuesday. Eurojust, which coordinates cross-border criminal proceedings, is creating a database of evidence registered in individual EU member states. Witnesses to the same war crime, for example, could now be spread among several countries.

On Tuesday, EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said in Prague that over 21,000 cases of war crimes in Ukraine are already being investigated, with 14 EU countries conducting separate inquiries. In Czechia, data related to the war in Ukraine have been gathered by the police national organized crime squad (NCOZ).  

Reconstruction Ukraine's nature recovery will take decades

  • It will take decades before Ukraine's nature returns to its original state impaired by the Russian invasion, Ukrainian Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets said ahead of a meeting of EU environment ministers in Prague.
  • The Ukrainian Environment Ministry has been analyzing the damage and preparing a plan of recovery to be implemented after the war.
  • Strilets said Russia's goal is to destroy Ukraine, its nature, and inhabitants. Ukraine has problems with 32 percent of its forests. Over 20 percent of its national parks have been invaded by the Russians
  • Attacks on oil storage premises mean problems with air pollution. There are also problems with drinking water, including in the west of Ukraine.
  • Czech Environment Minister Anna Hubáčková said that after the war, Czechia may send expert organizations' representatives to Ukraine to help remove the environmental damage.

Refugees Czechia grants 652 visas to refugees on Tuesday

  • Czechia granted 652 temporary protection visas to Ukrainian refugees on Tuesday, 601 more than on previous Tuesday, which was a national holiday, the Interior Ministry said today, adding that 630 visas were granted on Tuesday two weeks ago.
  • Some 392,355 visas have been granted since the start of the Russian invasion.
  • In total, 352,491 refugees have registered with the Czech immigration police so far, including 2,159 on Tuesday.
  • The Interior Ministry data show that out of Czechia's 14 regions, the one with the highest number of refugees, 90,015, is Prague.

July 12, 2022

A united registration system for refugees from Ukraine in the EU is already working, Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan told journalists after an informal meeting of EU interior ministers. The system is to prevent the registration of the same refugees in several EU countries. No EU member is against the system, Rakušan said. Some countries are already using the system, but others are not, Rakušan said.

Four countries must remove legal barriers in their domestic legislation relating to data sharing and protection, he added. The system is to prevent the registration of the same refugees in several EU countries. EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said there was some overlap in registration. In the EU, there are now some 3.2 to 3.7 million Ukrainian refugees.

Politics ANO backs sanctions bill but opposes its sped-up passing

  • The opposition ANO movement agrees with the new bill on sanctions as submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, but is against and will veto its passing in a sped-up procedure in a single reading.
  • The bill, drafted by the Foreign Ministry, will enable the imposition of national sanctions as punishment for serious unlawful actions on the international scene. The state will be able to deny entry or stay to those sanctioned and freeze their property.
  • The bill also creates the legal basis for putting individuals and entities on the EU lists of sanctions at the Czech initiative.

Diplomacy Ukrainian ambassador to Prague may end in August

  • Ukrainian Ambassador to Prague Yevhen Perebyinis will probably end during August and most likely return to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in Kyiv.
  • Perebyinis was withdrawn by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week. Perebyinis said the only reasons are diplomatic conventions as the ambassadors are usually replaced after four years and he has already served five and a half years.
  • Perebyinis has been the ambassador to the Czech Republic since 2017. Before this, he headed the embassy in Latvia and was the spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. In the 1990s and the early 2000s, he worked at the Prague embassy as a secretary and administrator.

Refugees Reopened Prague center assists 248 people on first day

  • Czechia granted temporary protection visas to 1,453 refugees from Ukraine on Monday, 267 more than a week ago.
  • The country has granted these visas to 391,703 refugees since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Interior Ministry writes on Twitter today.
  • Last week, fewer visas were issued also because July 5 and July 6 were national holidays.
  • On Monday, the refugee assistance center in Prague reopened after several weeks and it assisted to 248 people from Ukraine. It closed in mid-June due to lacking accommodation capacities in the city. Prague still cannot offer accommodation apart from provisional tent towns.
  • The Interior Ministry data show that out of Czechia's 14 regions, the one with the highest number of refugees, roughly 90,000, is Prague.

July 11, 2022

The regional assistance center for refugees in Prague-Vysočany, which City Hall closed due to the overburdening of the city and the lack of additional accommodation capacities in mid-June, reopened today. The center at the Vysočanská metro station will be open from Monday to Thursday between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. and on Fridays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Dozens of applicants lined up outside the refugee assistance center this morning. It was similar to the number the center usually faced on Mondays and Tuesdays before being closed on June 15, Prague Firefighters' spokesman Martin Kavka told ČTK.

The Regional Assistance Center for Help to Ukraine (KACPU) will help refugees get the residence permit and health insurance, and take other necessary steps. However, the city will not offer accommodation to the Ukrainians except for provisional tent camps and other capacities provided by the Refugee Facilities Administration.

Aid U.S. giving $10.2 million to Czech Republic

  • U.S. Secretary of State Antony S. Blinken has announced humanitarian assistance to support those affected by Russia’s war against Ukraine. It will include $10.2 million for organizations working in the Czech Republic.
  • The $10.2 million will support the work of the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the World Health Organization inside of the Czech Republic, according to a U.S. Embassy press release.
  • “With this funding, the United States is demonstrating our solidarity with the Czech Republic, and the people of Ukraine,” Chargé d’affaires Michael Dodman said.

Refugees Czechia grants 28 visas to Ukrainian refugees on Sunday

  • Some 28 refugees from Ukraine received temporary protection visas in the Czech Republic on Sunday, three more than a week ago.
  • The country has granted these visas to 390,250 refugees since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Interior Ministry writes on Twitter today.
  • On Sunday, 1,400 refugees registered with the Czech immigration police. In total, 347,389 refugees have registered with the police so far. The duty to report to the immigration police does not apply to children under 15, who make up about one-third of the people fleeing from Ukraine.
  • The Interior Ministry data show that the Czech region in which there is the highest number of refugees, roughly 90,000, is Prague.

Support Ukrainians confirm use of Czech combat helicopters

  • The Ukrainian Stratcom Centre has confirmed that the Ukrainian air force uses Mi-24 attack helicopters donated by the Czech Republic and released a photo on Twitter.
  • In May, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned the delivery. However, Czech representatives declined to release any further information on arms deliveries to Ukraine.
  • According to available information, the heavy equipment includes the Mi-24 helicopters, self-propelled 152 mm-caliber Dana howitzers, multiple RM-70 Grad rocket launchers, infantry fighting vehicles, and Soviet-made T-72 tanks.

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