Photo by Zane Bitere/LETA
Lucie Sykorova, “HlídacíPes.org” / Latvijas Avīze
The Czech Republic hosts the largest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita in the entire European Union, more than 397 thousand have arrived here since the beginning of the Russian war in February 2022.
However, support for Ukraine among the public is declining, and anti-Ukrainian sentiment is supported by disinformation spread by the new Chair of the Chamber of Deputies. The fact is that most Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic work, their crime rate is not higher than that of Czech citizens, and Ukrainians have been financially advantageous to the Czech state since last year – they already pay more into the system than the state provides them.
Three and a half years after the start of the war in Ukraine, over 600 thousand Ukrainians live in the Czech Republic, of which 397 thousand have arrived since 2022 and live here under temporary protection. For every thousand inhabitants of the Czech Republic, there are 34 Ukrainians with temporary protection. For comparison – in Poland it is 27, in Estonia 25, in Slovakia 24.
A large part of Ukrainian refugees have integrated in the Czech Republic – they have found work, are doing business, their children are going to school. As of the first week of November, there are almost 124 thousand men between the ages of 18 and 65, and 164 thousand women in the same age category. There are just over 17 thousand seniors over the age of 65, and the rest, roughly 92 thousand, are minor children.
Approximately 155,000 refugees from Ukraine, which is four-fifths (80 percent) of the potential workforce, work in the Czech Republic. This year’s data from the „Voice of Ukrainians“ research project show that among them there is a high proportion of university-educated people, a higher proportion of women and, compared to the general population, they are more often families with economically dependent children. Almost half of the refugees work below their qualifications, two-thirds of the refugees live below the income poverty line.
According to a study by the Boston Consulting Group and the Aspen Institute Central Europe, prepared this spring for the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, up to 260,000 refugees from Ukraine could remain permanently in the Czech Republic. In some sectors and professions, the Czech state is currently dependent on the Ukrainian workforce – for example, in auxiliary healthcare professions, construction and a whole range of other services, whether cleaning or sales. For example, about 1,600 Ukrainians work for the Agrofert concern, which is owned by the candidate for prime minister Andrej Babiš and the chairman of the ANO movement.
The winning parties want a review of support for Ukraine
What conditions Ukrainian refugees will continue to have in the Czech Republic, however, also depends on the attitude of the emerging government, which, according to the negotiations so far, should be formed by the ANO movement, the SPD and Motoristé sobe.
In their program statement, they promised a new law on asylum, which is to be granted only in exceptional, precisely defined cases.
The migration policy is said to “reflect the needs of the labor market and the security interests of the Czech Republic”.
Representatives of the ANO movement stated several times before the elections that they planned to cancel or at least make fundamental revisions to some of the current initiatives, such as Czech ammunition support to Ukraine. Within the Czech ammunition initiative, Ukraine has already received around 3.5 million pieces of large-caliber ammunition.
Anti-Ukrainian sentiments in the Czech Republic have been spread for a long time by, for example, the chairman of the far-right SPD movement and the new chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura. His first step after taking the office was to remove the Ukrainian flag from the Parliament building. Karel Havlíček, the deputy chairman of the ANO movement and apparently the future Minister of Industry, also has the same position.
The SPD movement has a restrictive attitude towards continued aid to Ukraine and has long criticized the costs associated with accepting foreigners. Chairman Tomio Okamura stated in May that if his movement is in government, “it will review all residence permits for Ukrainians in the Czech Republic.” According to him, only those “who are in positions where Czechs cannot be employed” should work here. He would terminate the residence permits of others.
Crime rate of Ukrainians has decreased this year
In addition, Tomio Okamura repeatedly claims that crime rate of Ukrainians is increasing sharply in the Czech Republic. However, police statistics say otherwise. In fact, according to the latest figures, the number of crimes committed in connection with citizens of Ukraine is on the contrary decreasing. When comparing the period until July 2024 and until July 2025, a slight decrease was recorded from 2006 to 1934 crimes.
According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, Ukrainians committed approximately 1,700 crimes in the Czech Republic in 2021, while in 2024 the number increased to almost 3944 thousand. However, at the same time, the number of Ukrainians in the Czech Republic tripled, specifically increasing from 197 thousand to 589 thousand people. On the contrary, the crime rate among Ukrainians in the Czech Republic has decreased per capita.
The most common crimes are traffic-related – endangering under the influence of an addictive substance or obstructing the execution of an official decision, as well as forgery and alteration of public documents.
According to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, 1,653 Ukrainians were prosecuted in 2021. In 2024, the number of Ukrainians prosecuted increased to 3,842. The share of those prosecuted last year was 0.65%, which was the same as among Czech citizens. On the other hand, Slovaks, Poles or Romanians living in the Czech Republic are prosecuted and punished much more often.
On the contrary, Ukrainians are the most frequently victims of hate-motivated acts.Last year, the security forces registered 119 prosecuted persons, with Ukrainians being the victims of attacks in 71 cases.
Anti-Ukrainian speeches far outnumbered incidents with anti-Gypsy, anti-Semitic or homophobic overtones, according to a report by the Ministry of the Interior. However, by far the most hate speech takes place on social networks, and these are not monitored in detail.
Only a third of Czechs reject Ukrainian concessions to Russia
Although interest in events in Ukraine and willingness to help Ukrainians in the Czech Republic is declining, according to public opinion polls, a narrow majority of the population of the Czech Republic still wants to help Ukraine and a clear majority sees the Russian invasion as a threat to European security. This is stated in a research by the Center for Public Opinion Research (CVVM) from spring 2025.
55 percent of respondents spoke in favor of providing financial assistance to Ukraine. 58 percent also support providing military aid to the Ukrainians.
74 percent of citizens considered the situation in Ukraine a threat to world peace and European security (71 percent), about two-thirds considered it a threat to the security of the Czech Republic (66 percent).
According to the CVVM survey, almost half of citizens (47 percent) agreed with the steps of the previous government in support of Ukraine, about a third (31 percent) disagreed with them, and less than a fifth did not support either option.
The public was completely negative about the hypothetical sending of soldiers on a combat mission. 71 percent of people were against it, 18 percent were in favor.
According to 55 percent of those surveyed, the main goal should be to conclude peace, even at the cost of Ukrainian concessions. On the contrary, a third of people (32 percent) reject giving in to the aggressor. The rest chose the answer „I don’t know“.
According to a CVVM survey from autumn 2024, more than half (56 percent) of citizens perceived the admitted Ukrainian refugees as a problem in the context of the entire Czech Republic. A year ago, only 29 percent of those surveyed were interested in the development of the refugee situation, which was the lowest share ever recorded. Only 9 percent of respondents would accept refugees permanently, while 64 percent would prefer their temporary acceptance with return to their homeland.
Four times fewer people are receiving humanitarian aid
Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic currently have temporary protection valid until March 2026. At the European Union level, it was decided to extend it until March 2027, which will happen automatically if the refugees meet the standard conditions and submit the necessary documents.
However, the current temporary protection regime still does not provide a permanent right of residence. Those who want to stay in the Czech Republic for a long time can apply for a special long-term residence permit, which is already associated with stricter requirements – for example, documented employment, a minimum annual income or good character.
The state continues to provide humanitarian benefits to those who cannot earn a living on their own – typically children, seniors or people with disabilities. Two-thirds of all recipients are these vulnerable groups.
The number of recipients of humanitarian benefits has been declining for a long time – while in April 2022 over 234 thousand people received it, in September 2025 there were only 83 thousand.
The humanitarian benefit is provided at the subsistence level for the first 150 days, and is subsequently reduced to the subsistence minimum in cases where the person does not try to secure financial resources through their own efforts and at the same time has no objective obstacles to work. From July 1, the amount of the humanitarian benefit is set at 6,600 crowns for people under 18 and 4,400 for people over 18.
As for housing, the majority of the Ukrainian refugee population has moved into rented accommodation (79 percent), a tenth lives in dormitories and 8 percent lives in solidarity households.
This year, the Czech Republic has already received more than 11 billion
Data from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs confirm that helping people fleeing the war in Ukraine has been an economically beneficial step for the Czech Republic since last year.
In the first three quarters of this year, Ukrainian refugees paid significantly more in taxes and contributions than the amount of assistance provided in the form of benefits, healthcare or education in the same period. Specifically, by 11.7 billion CZK. Revenues have exceeded expenditures since the beginning of 2024, when there was a surplus of 9.7 billion.
In the third quarter of 2025 alone, state budget revenues from taxes and contributions from persons with temporary protection reached CZK 8.2 billion, while expenditures related to their support amounted to CZK 3.9 billion. The Czech budget was thus in the “plus” by CZK 4.3 billion. For 2023, the deficit was CZK 2.6 billion.
The growth in revenues is primarily due to the growing employment of persons with temporary protection, who pay taxes and insurance premiums just like Czech citizens. The largest part of revenues is social and health insurance. Other revenues come from VAT, personal and legal income taxes, and excise taxes.
