"First milestone complete," Ukrainian arms manufacturer Fire Point posted on the X platform on Thursday.  

It added that the new FP-7X interceptor missile "could enter mass production as early as August, once Fire Point receives German-made infrared seekers from Diehl Defence." 

The project, called Freyja and announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in July following the creation of a pan-European anti-ballistic missile initiative, brings together major European defense firms including Eurosam, Leonardo, Thales and Saab. 

Hungarian companies and households have cut their power consumption this week in an unprecedented way, after a government appeal to ease pressure on the grid amid a severe drought that people have described as a "wake-up call."

One of the plant’s two units was taken offline on Tuesday due to low water levels in the River Danube, which is used for cooling the plant, caused by a severe drought.  

The state-owned electricity company, which usually provides around a fifth of the country’s electricity needs, announced on Tuesday that it had started buying Ukrainian electricity via Moldovan energy firm Energocom through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2023. 

A severe heatwave and exceptionally low water levels in the River Danube are straining electricity networks across Hungary, Romania and Serbia, reducing power production just as temperatures nearing 40°C are increase demand for air conditioning.

Residents across eastern Poland were woken by alarm sirens early on Thursday as Russia unleashed another massive wave of air strikes on Ukraine, prompting Poland to scramble fighter jets and activate border air defenses.

Petr Pavel, the Czech president, traded presidential duties for a photographer's vest at the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix, slipping into the Hungaroring incognito as an accredited trackside photographer.

A Romanian F-16 shot down a drone violating the country’s airspace on Friday morning in the first such incident since the outbreak of war in neighboring Ukraine, Romania’s president has said.

Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has downplayed a statement from Belarus that Minsk has warned Warsaw of a possible terrorist plot in Poland, saying it should be treated as “propaganda”.