Sep 23, 2026, 02:30 PM UTC

Intensified Russian drone and missile strikes across Ukraine have triggered widespread evacuations and heavy civilian casualties. In eastern Ukraine, the transit hub of Lozova is receiving hundreds of displaced residents daily, while southern authorities in Kherson have urged families and elderly citizens to leave ahead of winter power outages. The surge follows a double strike on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih that left at least 14 people dead and over 120 injured.

July recorded at least 437 civilian fatalities, making it the deadliest month for non-combatants since early 2022. As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues requesting additional Western air defence systems, domestic authorities are conducting street enforcement operations to locate an estimated two million men avoiding military conscription.

Sources: Dagens Industri, Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, SVT, Sydsvenskan.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš confirmed intelligence reports regarding heightened Russian hybrid warfare risks against allies backing Kyiv, aligning with warnings from Poland.

In diplomatic developments, Czech Deputy Speaker Barbora Urbanová travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian parliamentary officials despite a prior rejection of her trip by a legislative committee. Meanwhile, Chief of General Staff Miroslav Hlaváč is waiting on defence ministry authorization to attend a summit of European military leaders in Ukraine.

On policy and law enforcement, new European Union rules extend temporary protection for displaced Ukrainians until March 2028, conditioning status on fulfilling military obligations. Concurrently, Czech authorities launched "Kobra 26," a specialized police unit targeting fraudulent employment networks exploiting Ukrainian laborers and depriving the state of substantial revenue.

Sources: Deník N, Ekonomický deník, iROZHLAS, Respect, Seznam Zprávy

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has reaffirmed targets to increase the country's average net wage to €1,600 by 2028, alongside plans to discuss adjustments to the current €1,050 minimum gross salary with social partners in October. To support long-term output, the government outlined a €3 billion industrial strategy aimed at modernizing manufacturing by 2034.

Commenting on the economic outlook, Croatian Employers' Association President Mislav Balković stressed that private enterprise must spearhead future development, cautioning that wage increases continue to outpace productivity gains. Conversely, economist Ljubo Jurčić criticized recent deceleration in growth, warning that the national economy is "drifting without an engine or a rudder."

Sources: HRT Vijesti, Index, Poslovni dnevnik, Vijesti.

Czech child protection authorities recorded a twenty-year high of over 10,000 cases of child abuse, neglect, and exploitation over the past year, resulting in 3,616 children being removed from their homes. Experts debate whether the statistical rise stems from growing social insecurity or heightened public awareness, while warning that official figures remain an underestimate due to missing evaluation guidelines and insufficient preventive support services.

Concurrently, the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is finalizing a seven-billion-koruna expansion of preschool facilities funded through the EU National Recovery Plan, drawing criticism over unaddressed quality standards. Meanwhile, the European Commission proposed the "EU KIDS Act", which aims to ban social media access for children under 13 and restrict unmonitored accounts for minors under 15 across member states.

Sources: Deník N, Hospodářské noviny, iROZHLAS, Respect, Seznam Zprávy