Several hundred Ukrainians gathered in the center of Prague on Sunday to thank the Czech Republic for accepting them and providing them with refuge from the war. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, approximately 400,000 refugees received asylum in the Czech Republic within six months. The exact number of those residing in the country is not known, some leave for other European Union states, some return to Ukraine.
The participants of the march gathered around noon under the statue of St. Wenceslas. After the opening speech and chanting “Thank you!” headed towards Můstek and Old Town Square. The participants, among whom there was a significant preponderance of women, carried Czech and Ukrainian flags, as well as a hand-made banner thanking them for the warm welcome in the Czech Republic.
2) Here I give another video sample from Sunday’s March of gratitude of Ukrainians to Czechs. This is what the atmosphere looked like on Wenceslas Square. I am happy that I used today’s day off to show this kind face of our country. I will try to put more on the homepage @Update pic.twitter.com/OgS9ae8Jw7
— Radek Bartonicek (@R_Bartonicek) September 4, 2022
1) I am bringing you the first sample from today’s March of Gratitude from Wenceslas Square to Old Town Square. I have never heard so many thanks in my life as the Ukrainians thanked our country today. However, you will also hear it in my interview on the video. I also thank all of you who help. THANK YOU Czechia! pic.twitter.com/9DvejRguVK
— Radek Bartonicek (@R_Bartonicek) September 4, 2022
There aren’t many journalists here, almost no file, so I don’t know who will find out about this meeting. I would like to show how Ukrainians gathered today on Wenceslas Square for a March of gratitude to the Czech Republic for its enormous help. I will bring more information. pic.twitter.com/hgbUcOpiQn
— Radek Bartonicek (@R_Bartonicek) September 4, 2022
3) Thank you. Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you How many times have I heard these words today from the women from Ukraine who made up the majority of the participants in the Ukrainian March of Gratitude to the Czechs? Here I offer you more opinions and atmosphere. And on @Update there is already an article for this! pic.twitter.com/9l0RWjJH8g
— Radek Bartonicek (@R_Bartonicek) September 4, 2022
“Today, we Ukrainian women have come to thank you for your help, for your invaluable support. You have given us shelter in your house. Our children can play, study, sleep peacefully and do not have to be scared by alarm sirens and explosions at night and in the dark. Every Ukrainian mother whose child the Czechia hid from war and danger will remember this for the rest of her life,” said one of the participants in the march on Wenceslas Square.
The exact number of Ukrainian refugees residing in the Czech Republic is not known. At the end of August, half a year after the start of the Russian invasion, Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan (STAN) estimated their number at more than 300,000. So far, 424,302 Ukrainian refugees have received temporary protection visas.
