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Prague’s Václav Havel Airport will offer direct flights to 167 destinations during the upcoming summer schedule, which comes into effect on March 31. That is 15 more destinations than last year, but 23 fewer than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

The new destinations include direct flights to Verona and Florence in Italy, Ponta Delgada in Portugal, Tallin, Estonia and the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. The flights will be operated by 68 carriers.

Prague’s main international airport will also increase the number of flights on more than 30 lines, including London, Paris, Antalya and Amsterdam.

Czechia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are calling on the European Commission to impose restrictions on grain imports from Russia and Belarus to the European Union, in a letter signed by the agriculture ministers of all five countries.

Russia is using profits from grain exports to finance the ongoing war in Ukraine, the countries say in the letter addressed to European Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Janusz Wojciechowski. According to the letter, the EU imported 1.53 million tonnes of Russian grain worth EUR 437.5 million in 2023.

According to Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný, who signed the letter on behalf of the Czech Republic, there is no reason why Czechia should support an aggressor who is committing war crimes in Ukraine, attacking civilians and is a threat to the entire civilised world.

Russia's aggression against Ukraine is in violation of international law and Ukrainian territory must remain within internationally recognised borders, the foreign ministers of the V4 countries (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary), agreed at a meeting in Prague on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said it was necessary to increase support for Ukraine in all areas, including military aid. He said it is in the interest of the entire region that the Russian army stays as far away from its borders as possible.

He also welcomed the fact that a number of states have backed the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine from countries outside the European Union.

The foreign ministers of the Visegrad Group  countries (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary) are meeting in Prague for talks on Thursday. They will debate current foreign policy issues, including continued aid to Ukraine in its defense against Russia, which is a divisive topic in the alliance. Prague and Warsaw support continued military aid to the country, which Budapest and Bratislava claim that military assistance has failed and have been pushing for peace talks. After a meeting with his Polish counterpart ahead of the talks on Wednesday, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said finding a common denominator in the Visegrad Group is not exactly easy at the moment, but it makes sense to retain regional cooperation in other areas.