LATEST HEADLINES

• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday said he was confident that both Poland and Slovakia would continue to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia after imminent elections, despite recent harsh rhetoric towards Kyiv. READ MORE BELOW

• Romanian army radars detected a possible breach of national airspace during an overnight Russian drone attack against neighboring Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, the defense ministry said on Saturday.

• An infrastructure site was hit in a Russian attack early on Saturday in the western Ukrainian region of Vinnitsya, the regional governor said.

• Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday he wants to turn Ukraine's defense industry into a "large military hub" by partnering with Western weapons manufacturers to increase arms supplies for Kyiv's counteroffensive against Russia.

• Ukraine's air force shot down 30 out of 40 Iranian-made "Shahed" drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack on central and southern regions, regional and military officials said.

• Russia's air defense downed all nine missiles launched from Ukraine over its western Belgorod region, the Kremlin's defense ministry said.

• Ukraine marked Friday's 82nd anniversary of a mass killing, mainly of Jews, in Nazi-occupied Kyiv with an appeal not to forget an event it said provided the moral basis for opposition to "Russian aggression."

IN DETAIL

Ukraine waits on key verdict from neighbors as Slovakia goes to the polls

Slovaks voted on Saturday in a tight early election seen as key to whether the country will keep supporting neighboring Ukraine after a campaign marked by disinformation.

Polling stations across the EU and NATO member of 5.4 million people will close at 2000 GMT, with exit polls expected shortly afterwards and the final results due on Sunday morning.

Two parties were neck-and-neck in the final opinion polls – the left-wing Smer-SD of populist former premier Robert Fico and the centrist Progressive Slovakia of European Parliament vice-speaker Michal Simecka.

Both parties scored around 20 percent backing, which means the likely election winner will need help from smaller parties to form a majority coalition in the 150-seat parliament.

The new government will replace a wobbly centre-right coalition in power since 2020, which has seen three cabinets installed over the period and provided hefty military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday