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Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, together with his counterparts from Poland and Slovenia, met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Kyiv on Tuesday after traveling to the besieged capital by train. The three EU heads of government stressed in their message that Europe stands with Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s aggression. Negotiations revolved around securing further material help for Ukraine and expanding sanctions on Russia.

Caritas is a Catholic non-profit organization operating at the grassroots level in 160 countries around the world, aimed at helping the poor, vulnerable, and excluded, regardless of race or religion. In the Czech Republic, Caritas is the oldest non-profit organization working at the national level, and also the biggest non-state provider of social and health services. I caught up with Caritas Czech Republic’s Head of Humanitarian Aid and Development Cooperation, Jiří Škvor, to find out how they are helping with the Ukrainian refugee crisis.

As the influx of refugees from Ukraine to the Czech Republic continues, accommodation capacities is some parts of the country have already been exhausted. In reaction to the situation, the Czech interior minister announced a plan for a stricter redistribution of refugees across all of the country’s regions.

Labour offices around the country are starting to feel the strain of the influx of war refugees from Ukraine. Having settled down in their new surroundings, thousands of newcomers are now looking for a school in which to place their children and a job to help sustain them. The vast majority say that in the initial stage they are ready to take whatever they are offered.

With the Czech Republic facing its worst refugee crisis since the Second World War, the European Union has promised to provide modular humanitarian bases in order to help house the large influx of people arriving in the country. Meanwhile, regional governors are calling for a long-term plan and higher state subsidies for hoteliers in order to unlock more of the country’s recreational facilities for refugees.

Czech Radio is hosting a benefit concert in support of Ukraine in Prague’s Rudolfinum Concert Hall on Monday evening. The concert, featuring the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, will combine music by Ukrainian and Czech composers. The proceeds will go to a collection organised by the NGO People in Need.

From Monday respirators are only required in the Czech Republic on public transport or at health or social care facilities. However, the number of fresh Covid cases has risen almost daily in the last week – raising the question of whether the timing is right. I discussed the situation with biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

For more than six decades, Czech scientists have been involved in nuclear research at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in the Russian town of Dubna. Now, the Czech Republic has announced it will terminate its long-term cooperation with the Russian institution, following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

It may surprise you to know that Ukraine has its own Czech-speaking community. Although they are collectively called "Volhynian Czechs", their ancestors settled not only in the Volhynia region in the West of the country, but also in Crimea. Many of these Czech-speaking Ukrainians took advantage of the opportunity to repatriate to their ancestral homeland after World War II, as well as after the fall of Communism in 1989. Nevertheless, several thousand Czechs continue to live in Ukraine and are now experiencing the hardships of war, as is the rest of the country, due to the Russian invasion. Vít Pohanka has their story.

Tributes are being paid to Eva Zaoralová, the former longstanding artistic director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, who has died at the age of 89. Eva Zaoralová and festival president Jiří Bartoška made Karlovy Vary the region’s biggest cinema event after taking the reins in 1994, says film journalist Vojtěch Rynda.