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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.