Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces surrender to army robots in battlefield first, Zelensky says-Breaking News, Latest Updates

Power at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been restored after it was lost for the 13th time since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The power was restored through the Ferosplavna-1 330 KV Power Line, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

As we earlier reported, the IAEA said it was the 13th time ‌since the ⁠start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that the plant had lost all off-site power supply. Even though it has been shut down since the start of the war, the plant needs power to maintain cooling systems.

The Russia-appointed management of the occupied plant later said power had been restored via ​one ⁠line.

The incoming Hungarian prime minister Peter Magyar has said his country will end its long-standing opposition to the European Union’s €90bn loan for Ukraine.

Magyar said the decision on the loan “was already made in December” and the incoming Tisza administration “would like to be coherent” with previous commitments made.

He said EU leaders would be saved the trouble of having to regroup again in person to unblock the loan.

Magyar added that the decision on the loan’s clearance could be made even before his government takes office, but added that the country would not be able to contribute financially, blaming Orban’s outgoing administration.

“I will discuss with European leaders but I personally agree that Hungary should opt out, Hungary is in a very difficult situation,” Magyar said. “We cannot take out even more loans, the Hungarian budget deficit has tripled since 2010,” he said.

Orban had initially agreed to allow the loan to go ahead but then changed his mind, saying Ukraine must first repair a pipeline carrying Russian oil through the country to Hungary.

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn to new defensive lines near the settlement of Myropilske in Sumy Oblast, military officials said, citing Russia’s superiority in manpower and equipment.

“The situation in the area of the settlement of Myropilske in the Krasnopillia hromada in Sumy Oblast remains tense. As a result of intense fighting and the enemy’s superiority in manpower and equipment, units of the defence forces of Ukraine moved to new prepared defensive lines to preserve the lives of personnel, where they continue to hold the defence,” said the 14th Army Corps of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, reported the Ukrainska Pravda.

However, the situation remains under control and the Ukrainian forces are ready for further action, the statement added.

Hungary’s new prime minister Péter Magyar has said he will tell Russian president Vladimir Putin to end his war in Ukraine.

Magyar said everyone knows Ukraine is the victim in this war, breaking away Budapest’s continued silence on the war due to outgoing leader Viktor Orbán’s closeness to the Kremlin.

He added that he would not be calling either US president Donald Trump or Putin in the immediate aftermath of his election victory over Orbán, but would speak to his predecessor’s allies if they wanted.

“If [Putin] does [call], I will ask him to please stop the killing and stop the war. I think that would be a very brief discussion. I hope he will be forced to stop the war soon,” Magyar said in Budapest yesterday.

He celebrated the start of a “new era” in the country after the removal of Orbán, saying: “Our history is not written in Moscow, Brussels or Washington but on Hungarian streets.”

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country’s forces successfully retook land under Russia’s control using only ground robots and drones.

“The future is already on the front line – and Ukraine is building it. These are our ground robotic systems. For the first time in the history of this war, an enemy position was taken exclusively by unmanned platforms – ground systems and drones,” he said on X.

“The occupiers surrendered, and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our side,” he said, without detailing the operation’s location and time.

He added that more than 22,000 missions using ground robotic systems have been carried out in the past three months.

“In other words, lives were saved more than 22,000 times when a robot went into the most dangerous areas instead of a warrior. This is about high technology protecting the highest value – human life,” he said.

As the long, dark night of Viktor Orban’s 16-year rule in Hungary came to an end this weekend, it wasn’t just the jubilant crowds crammed onto the bridges across the Danube that had a song in their heart. There are few political events about which you can reach for a quote from 1970s soul band Hot Chocolate – but today, “Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s no lie”.

For “the dictator”, as he was known in Brussels, has gone. Hungary has certainly won, Europe has won, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have lost their fifth-columnist ally on this continent, and Nigel Farage has lost a source of ideological inspiration.

But the biggest sigh of relief – at the sheer size of Peter Magyar’s election landslide – must have been in Kyiv. Cliche or not, we shouldn’t hesitate to call the end of Orban as a game-changer for Ukraine.

In recent years, Volodymyr Zelensky and his people have conducted their astonishingly successful resistance to the Russian invasion with bravery, solidarity and ingenuity – and in spite of a shortage of funds. The EU has long had a massive €90bn ready to lend to them – to pay for armaments, soldiers’ wages, and just to keep going – but the arrangement has been vetoed by the most stubborn and intractable of EU member states.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant briefly lost its connection to the grid ⁠after its ​last ⁠remaining ‌external power line went down, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said this morning.

The IAEA said it was the 13th time ‌since the ⁠start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that the plant had lost all off-site power supply. Even though it has been shut down since the start of the war, the plant needs power to maintain cooling systems.

The Russia-appointed management of the occupied plant later said power had been restored via ​one ⁠line.

The Kremlin has expressed its eagerness to foster ties with Hungary’s incoming leader Peter Magyar, saying it respected the choice of the Hungarian people and was ready to do business with the prime minister-elect.

“We look forward to continuing our highly pragmatic engagement with Hungary’s new leadership,” Kremlin ​spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told ⁠reporters yesterday.

“We noted Magyar’s statement regarding his willingness to engage in dialogue. Naturally, ‌this will be beneficial for both Moscow and Budapest,” Peskov said.

Peskov later told state TV it wasn’t yet clear what the stance of the new Hungarian leadership would be, and that the Kremlin would not be congratulating Magyar on his win due to Hungary’s formal designation as an “unfriendly country”.

Magyar’s predecessor, Viktor Orban, ensured that his country continued to buy Russian oil and gas despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine, allowed Russia to start work on building a new nuclear power plant south of Budapest, and often spoke out against sanctions on Russia while flatly opposing Kyiv’s bid to join the 27-nation bloc.

The incoming Hungarian prime minister Peter Magyar has said his country will end its long-standing opposition to the European Union’s €90bn loan for Ukraine.

Magyar said the decision on the loan “was already made in December” and the incoming Tisza administration “would like to be coherent” with previous commitments made.

He said EU leaders would be saved the trouble of having to regroup again in person to unblock the loan.

Magyar added that the decision on the loan’s clearance could be made even before his government takes office, but added that the country would not be able to contribute financially, blaming Orban’s outgoing administration.

“I will discuss with European leaders but I personally agree that Hungary should opt out, Hungary is in a very difficult situation,” Magyar said. “We cannot take out even more loans, the Hungarian budget deficit has tripled since 2010,” he said.

Orban had initially agreed to allow the loan to go ahead but then changed his mind, saying Ukraine must first repair a pipeline carrying Russian oil through the country to Hungary.