Long reputed to be Russia-friendly, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has often railed against the continuation of the EU sanctions, claiming that they impose an intolerable burden on the Hungarian economy and provide no solution for the carnage in Ukraine.

A Ukrainian drone attack last week forced a refinery in Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, to suspend operations. Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday that 49 Ukrainian drones had been downed over the country overnight, including 25 in the southern Rostov region and eight in the Volgograd region.

MOSCOW - An oil refinery in Russia's southern Volgograd region caught fire after an overnight Ukrainian drone attack, but the blaze has now been put out, the regional governor said on Friday. Read more at straitstimes.

Ukrainian forces fighting around Velyka Novosilka claim its Russian takeover will amount to nothing more than a flag-raising exercise

Putin has indicated that he will not view any peace agreement with Ukraine as binding, the Institute for the Study of War said.

Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery 250 miles east of Moscow in a huge wave of attacks on Russian power plants, say military sources. A large fire exploded at the refinery in Kstovo city in the Nizhny Novgorod region following the attack, the Ukrainian military said, adding it was assessing the scale of damage there.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Ukraine could find a legal way to hold peace talks with Russia on ending their nearly three-year-old war, but Moscow sees no willingness on Kyiv's part to engage.

A ‘100-day plan' for ending the war between Ukraine and Russia has suggested the long-running conflict could be over in just a few months.

Billions of dollars of investment may be needed to rebuild Ukraine's power systems, brought to the brink of total decimation after relentless attacks by Russia.

CHISINAU – President Donald Trump’s abrupt freeze of U.S. foreign aid is sending shockwaves through Eastern Europe, leaving pro-democracy groups, independent media, civil society initiatives and local governments scrambling to make ends meet in a region often defined by rivalries between East and West.

Kyiv launches fresh drone assault on Putin's oil refineries inside Russia - Volgograd governor Andrei Bocharov says a fire temporarily broke out after a Ukrainian drone attack