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Over 70 percent of Czechs agree that a significant reform of the pension system is needed, according to a survey conducted by the Kantar CZ agency for Czech Television, which published it on Sunday. However, there is little agreement on specific proposals for how to change it.

An increase in payments to the pension system from the self-employed and from people employed on casual and short-term contracts received the biggest amount of support, at 60 percent. Half of the respondents were in favour of tightening the conditions for early retirement. 57 percent do not agree that state contributions should be lower and that people should save more for their own pensions, while 41 percent of people are in favour of this proposal. Even fewer people agree with the proposal that the retirement age be linked to life expectancy, with 68 percent of people speaking out against it and only 30 percent in favour.

The government's proposal for changes to the pension system includes stricter conditions for early retirement and slowing down the indexation of pension payments. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, these changes are necessary to reduce the huge state budget deficit, prevent the collapse of the pension system, and make it sustainable for the future.

Demonstrators in Prague's Old Town Square filled almost the entire width of the square as they protested on Saturday against the notion that Ukraine was behind the Kakhovka dam explosion, which took place on Tuesday morning. The Czech News Agency reports that Voice of Ukraine, the organisation behind the demonstration, wanted to express its solidarity with Ukraine and identify Russia as the clear perpetrator of the attack. During the protest, the activists immersed figurines of people, houses, and animals in containers of water, which they said was intended to symbolise the damage and destruction that the attack had caused to the area.

The head of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, has said that the water has so far flooded an area of about 600 square kilometres on the lower course of the Dnieper River. Kyiv and Moscow both blame each other for the attack on the dam.

President Petr Pavel received a young Ukrainian schoolgirl and her mother at Prague Castle on Saturday after videos circulated on social media showing the girl's Czech classmates calling her names and spitting at her on a school trip. A photo of the president meeting and shaking hands with the girl was published on his Twitter account. The president said he condemns bullying, humiliation and violence in schools in general, but especially in the case of a child who has had to leave her country and friends because of war.

Firefighters in Ždánice in South Moravia finally managed to put out a fire in an industrial complex on Saturday afternoon after an almost 18-hour battle. Around 130 to 140 firefighters were on the scene tackling the fire, eight of whom received mild injuries.

The fire caused some chemical substances, mainly alkalines based on lye, to leak out into a nearby stream. Environment minister Petr Hladík dubbed it "a serious incident" and said that firefighters and rescue services were doing everything in their power to prevent the contaminants from reaching the river Dyje. The cause of the fire is so far still unknown.