February 26, 2022 News

Tens of thousands of people fleeing Ukraine. Caritas is helping them in the Czech Republic

The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Tens of thousands of them are crossing the border to the west. Women and children in particular are fleeing the country. Even before Russia's invasion, there were already 1.5 million internally displaced people in Ukraine, with 3 million people in need of humanitarian aid. The current humanitarian and security situation in the country is absolutely critical and is deteriorating rapidly. The people of Ukraine, as well as those leaving the country, are in urgent need of help with the basic necessities of life. Caritas is helping them secure basic needs.

Coordinated assistance

The first of those fleeing the fighting in Ukraine are beginning to arrive in the Czech Republic. Local Caritas are helping them to provide the basic necessities of life, such as drinking water, food, accommodation and psychosocial support. At the same time, they offer assistance in processing special visas (visas to stay on the territory) prepared by the Czech government for refugees from Ukraine, and other necessary matters.

Caritas Czech Republic cooperates closely with the state authorities as well as with our partners in the Czech Republic and Ukraine. We coordinate assistance across the entire Caritas network so that it is as effective as possible and reaches as many people in need as possible. In our assistance in the Czech Republic, we build on the services we have been providing to foreigners for a long time, and on our experience in emergency relief.

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Providing basic needs

As part of our Caritas network, we help people arriving from war-torn Ukraine to secure accommodation and also offer food and material assistance. Local Caritas are coordinating the accommodation in their respective areas, and we have made accommodation available at the Marianeum Caritas hotel in the centre of Prague, among others. People can offer free accommodation directly through their local Caritas.

A Ukrainian Caritas hotline is also in operation, providing information, psychosocial support and interpretation. It can be contacted on 731 432 431 on weekdays (except Thursdays) and at the weekend.

Help in Ukraine

The situation in Ukraine is critical. The invasion by Russian troops, ongoing fighting and shelling are dramatically exacerbating the security and humanitarian crisis in the country. There are already 1.5 million internally displaced people in the country, but their numbers are growing dramatically. Hundreds of thousands more have been forced to flee their homes, many needing help to secure the basic necessities of life. However, the complex security situation makes the provision of assistance very difficult.

On Friday, we sent the first part of our financial support to our long-standing partner Caritas Ukraine. This will allow its staff to immediately start providing humanitarian aid and procuring everything needed to provide the basic necessities of life to people affected by the war, including humanitarian workers, when their lives are not in immediate danger.

At the beginning of next week, there will also be a crisis psychological support training for Caritas Ukraine staff. Psychologists from the Czech Fire Rescue Corps will teach our Ukrainian colleagues how to provide psychological support to people affected by the ongoing war.