Slovak prime minister Robert Fico has called on the European Union to end sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports and restore flows through the Druzhba pipeline, arguing the bloc needs to draw on all available energy sources to address the supply crisis triggered by the US-Iran war.

Fico made the call in a statement after a call with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán on Saturday, saying the EU should renew dialogue with Russia and ensure member states could access gas and oil from all sources, including Russian ones. “It is not enough to deal with the energy crisis only at the national level,” he said.

Hungary and Slovakia are outliers in the EU for maintaining relations with Moscow, and were the only two member states still importing Russian oil when a Russian drone strike hit pipeline equipment in Ukraine in January, disrupting Druzhba flows. Budapest and Bratislava have accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying repairs to resume the pipeline, triggering a political dispute that has seen Hungary block an EU loan to Kyiv. Ukraine says it is fixing the damage as quickly as possible.

Oil prices have surged since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February, creating what the International Energy Agency called the biggest oil supply disruption in history. The EU had cut Russian oil imports to just one per cent of its total supply by the final quarter of 2025 following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

A Ukrainian drone strike has damaged an oil pipeline at Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Primorsk, local governor Alexander Drozdenko said on Sunday.

No injuries were reported.

The pipeline was shut down and a fire was safely burning out, Drozdenko said on Telegram. Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russia’s Baltic Sea ports over the past month.

Ukrainian soldiers deployed a firefighting robot to extinguish a blaze in the Kramatorsk region following a Russian strike on a house.

After discovering that gas canisters were stored at the scene of the fire, the fire brigade decided to use the robot to prevent putting soldiers at further risk.

“With its help, the fire was extinguished and prevented from spreading to neighbouring homes,” the brigade said.

“Ukrainian [ground robots] prove their uniqueness and effectiveness not only on the battlefield, but also in civilian life.”

The “Zmiy Firefighting” ground robotic systems are created by Ukrainian defence tech company RoverTech and are designed to operate in high-risk environments.

The system can be remotely controlled at distances of up to 3,000 meters, according to the company.

Ukraine has brought back eight children and teenagers from occupied territories, a Ukrainian humanitarian NGO has announced.

Mykola Kuleba, the founder of Save Ukraine, said they had all been living in conditions of pressure and fear, and their lives were under constant threat.

One 14 year old, Zoryana, was among those rescued. Mr Kuleba said she had been separated from her father by Russians, who was stripped of his documents and deported.

The girl was forced to study in a Russian school, where she was told about the greatness of Russia and taught to use weapons, he said.

Mr Kuleba wrote: “They are all in our Hope and Recovery centers and are receiving psychological support, documentation assistance, housing, and care — everything to help them regain a sense of security and start building a future.

“But thousands of children still remain under occupation. They are forced to be silent, conformed, and prepared for war. But we are not stopping.”

This recruitment drive is further evidenced by documents indicating that companies in Russia’s central Ryazan region have been given quotas to enlist workers for the army.

Top officials also deny any shortage of recruits, despite Ukrainian claims – dismissed by Moscow – that Kyiv is eliminating Russian troops faster than they can be replaced.

Ukraine said three women and two men were killed in a Russian drone attack on a market in the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Another 19 people were injured in the attack, the prosecutor general’s office said.

A strike also wounded 11 people in the city of Sumy, not far from the border with Russia.

Nearly 34,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or seriously wounded in March, the highest level since the start of the war, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.

Another 1,363 Russians were “eliminated” in artillery and other strikes over the month, bringing Russian losses to more than 35,000 in March.

“Importantly, the results in the destruction of Russia’s air defence systems have also significantly increased, with 274 such systems hit in March alone,” Ukraine’s leader wrote on social media.

“There have also been tangible results in the destruction of Russian depots and military logistics. The Ministry of Defence, together with the Armed Forces, will present a detailed report to the public for March – data that may be made public.”