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One of Czechia’s most important post-war dramatists, Ivan Vyskočil died on Friday at the age of 94, the Czech News Agency reports, citing the vice-chancellor of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Jan Hančil. One of the initiators of the so-called small form theatre in Czechoslovakia, Mr Vyskočil was a well-known figure on the Czech culture scene during the 1950s and 1960s.

He cofounded the famous Na zábradlí theatre in Prague, where he also played a leading role, working as an actor, dramatist and director. He was subsequently the artistic director at the Czech capital’s well-known Salon Reduta until falling out of favour during the normalisation period following the Prague Spring. Nevertheless, Vyskočil continued to be active in theatre and also worked as a teacher.

In the early 1990s, he founded and subsequently led the Department of Authorial Creativity and Pedagogy at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU). During his life, Vyskočil also wrote several theatre and radio plays.

In 2010 he received the Thálie award for extraordinary contributions to theatre from the Czech Actors Association.

Czechia’s President Petr Pavel, together with his Slovak counterpart Zuzana Čaputová, visited the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine in Kyiv on Friday, laying down flowers to honour those who died defending the country from Russia’s aggression.

Both heads of state also laid down wreaths on Kyiv’s Sophia Square in order to commemorate the so-called “Oath of the Czech squadron” (Přísaha České družiny). The oath took place on the site during the First World War, on October 11, 1914. The soldiers who took it were part of the first unit formed on the territory of Tsarist Russia to fight against the Central Powers. The date is generally considered as the beginning of the formation of the Czechoslovak Legions on the Eastern Front. These were units of Czech and Slovak soldiers whose efforts played a key role in helping eventually set up the independent Czechoslovak state.

Czech president Petr Pavel and Slovak president Zuzana Čaputová arrived in Ukraine early on Friday morning for a meeting with their Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

The pair travelled together by train for the state visit, arriving in the city of Nemishaieve, 38 kilometres northwest of Kyiv, shortly after another round of Russian missile attacks had been launched on a number of Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, overnight. The airstrikes left at least five dead and several injured, the Czech News Agency reports.

In addition to their meeting with Zelensky, Presidents Pavel and Čaputová will also visit the towns of Borodyanka and Buča, where Russian war crimes took place last spring.

This is Mr Pavel's first trip to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion last February. The date of the visit was not announced in advance due to security concerns.

The Prague Archdiocese says that its preference would be to sell Jindřišská Tower to the city government, but it is still in negotiations with the municipality about the price, Deník N reported on Thursday. Archbishop Jan Graubner said the archdiocese would like to prioritise the city, but that Prague cannot expect to get the tower for free when there are other interested parties who are willing to pay much more for it.

The Prague Archdiocese made the decision to put the tower, which is part of the historic city centre of Prague on UNESCO's cultural and natural heritage list, up for sale in November last year. Prague City Hall is one of around 30 bidders interested in acquiring the property, which the archdiocese listed for an asking price of CZK 75 million.