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Czechia has recorded its first tropical day of 2026, with temperatures reaching 30.1 degrees Celsius at the weather station in Doksany, north of Prague. Meteorologists said temperatures could still rise slightly further before the day ends. Last year’s first tropical day came earlier, in early May, while in 2024 it arrived as early as 7 April. Forecasters noted that Doksany is a somewhat unusual measurement site, known for temperature fluctuations linked to local conditions, but other parts of the country, including the Plzeň region, also saw temperatures approaching 30 degrees.

Czech President Petr Pavel says NATO should respond more forcefully to repeated Russian provocations near alliance territory, warning that Moscow may push further if it meets no serious resistance. In an interview with The Guardian, the former NATO general said the alliance should “show its teeth” and consider both military and non-military responses, including shooting down aircraft that violate allied airspace or imposing asymmetric measures such as cyber or financial pressure. Pavel also urged stronger Western resolve in supporting Ukraine, arguing that Russia responds to strength rather than diplomacy alone.

Czechia’s direct state budget spending linked to the war in Ukraine fell last year to 15.1 billion crowns, down by 2.1 billion crowns year-on-year, according to the government’s final state budget account. The largest single item was humanitarian assistance, at 8.8 billion crowns. However, the government says the full fiscal impact is harder to measure, as tax data does not identify refugees individually. The number of Ukrainian workers in Czechia rose by 39,000 to 325,000 last year. Previous estimates suggested Ukrainian refugees paid 23.2 billion crowns in taxes and social contributions in the first three quarters of 2024 alone.

Around 2,000 people gathered in Pohořelice on Saturday to take part in the March of Reconciliation to Brno, commemorating the forced expulsion of ethnic Germans from the city in 1945. This year’s event is closely linked to the Sudeten German congress, which is being held in Brno for the first time in its 76-year history at the invitation of the organisers of the Meeting Brno festival. Germany’s interior minister praised efforts at Czech-German reconciliation. The original expulsion, shortly after World War II, forced some 19,500 Germans out of Brno; about 1,700 are believed to have died, though some Sudeten German historians give higher figures. More than 320,000 people in wartime Czechoslovakia died during the Nazi occupation.