A post is being widely shared in the Czech segment of Facebook claiming that the Czech government spent 2.5 billion korunas on rebuilding Ukrainian hospitals while refusing to allocate 468 million korunas to help its own citizens affected by floods. This claim is misleading: the vast majority of funds for modernizing Ukrainian hospitals come from the European budget, not from the Czech one. As for flood relief, the government did indeed decline to provide direct compensation of 468 million korunas to the Moravian-Silesian Region, but the region immediately received 640 million korunas in subsidies for damage recovery. This disinformation case was analyzed in detail by Czech fact-checkers from Demagog.

A post that is being actively shared on Facebook claims: “The government spent 2.5 billion korunas on rebuilding a hospital in Ukraine but refused to provide 468 million to help its own citizens affected by floods”. The author is clearly referring to the Czech program supporting the modernization of Ukrainian hospitals and to state assistance after the floods in September 2024. Such claims are often used to stir up anti-Ukrainian sentiment, but they ignore key facts.

Facts about the reconstruction of Ukrainian hospitals

In March 2025, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced assistance for the modernization of Ukrainian hospitals. The European Commission approved the application, under which Czechia received €88 million (approximately 2.2 billion korunas) from the EU budget. The breakdown of funds is as follows:

Czech investors can also receive loan guarantees. The Czech government contributed only 200 million korunas from the national budget. Thus, the total amount is around 2.5 billion korunas, but the majority consists of EU funds to support Ukraine, not spending from the Czech state budget. About one third of the funds are guarantees that the state would pay only if loans are not repaid. These are not “government expenditures”, as the post claims, but investments in international cooperation.

The author of the fake mentions the refusal to allocate 468 million korunas to the Moravian-Silesian Region as compensation for initial flood-related expenses. However, the post omits a key fact: immediately after the floods, the region received 640 million korunas from the state to cover damages. Of this amount, 1.2 million korunas were even returned to the budget. Thus, assistance reached municipalities and residents through the regional budget, while the state provided a significantly larger sum – 640 million korunas – directly. Overall, the Czech state budget supported flood victims more than Ukrainian hospitals (200 million korunas from national funds).

The claim that “2.5 billion from the Czech government” was spent on Ukrainian hospitals is manipulative. Such fakes are often spread to manipulate public opinion and turn residents of EU countries against Ukraine.