MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Sunday, 26 July 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Saturday, 25 July): BEIJING - Slovakia is an important partner for China in Europe, and under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Slovak leaders, the two countries are maintaining strong relations and achieving fruitful results in various areas, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated on Friday (24 July) in response to a question about the forthcoming visit by Slovak President Peter Pellegrini. "Slovakia was among the first countries to recognise New China and establish diplomatic relations with it, and is also an important partner for China in Europe. Under the strategic leadership of President Xi Jinping and Slovak leaders, the two countries maintain strong relations and are achieving fruitful results in various areas," replied Lin Jian when asked about Pellegrini's visit and current relations between China and Slovakia. Pellegrini is set to depart on Sunday (26 July) for a three-day visit to China to hold talks with President Xi Jinping on bilateral relations, economic cooperation and current international issues. During the visit, Pellegrini will also meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhao Leji. "This is President Pellegrini's first visit to China since taking office. During the visit, President Xi Jinping will meet President Pellegrini to jointly draw up a plan for the future development of Sino-Slovak relations and exchange views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest," said the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry on Friday. BRATISLAVA - The Foreign and European Affairs Ministry condemns any attacks on civilians, civilian infrastructure or diplomatic missions anywhere in the world that are protected under international law, TASR has learnt from ministry's statement on social media in response to Friday's (24 July) Russian attack on the town of Sloviansk in Ukraine. "During Friday's Russian attacks on Ukraine, the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk region was also targeted, resulting in further loss of life and the destruction of the premises of the Honorary Consulate of Latvia, our partner in the European Union and NATO. Slovakia has long been calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, for which there is no military solution; we therefore fully support the peace efforts, which are absolutely essential," stated the ministry. Both Ukraine and Russia launched further attacks against each other on Friday, resulting in several casualties on both sides. Kiev attacked the Russian city of Kirov, which is located more than 1,000 kilometres behind the front line. Moscow launched an attack on Kiev region. The city of Sloviansk in Donetsk region was also targeted by the Russian attack, where five people were killed and the premises of the Latvian Honorary Consulate were damaged. BRATISLAVA - Slovak secondary school students Jakub Lazorcak, Marko Saloky, Pavol Emanuel Laban and Boris Kratky have returned from the RoboCup World Finals in South Korea with two world championship titles, succeeding with their robot named 'Stvorec' (Square) that they themselves designed and programmed, according to a news conference held earlier this week. "RoboCup is a prestigious global competition with up to approximately 300 teams. We competed in the Rescue Simulation category, which involves a rescue robot. Its task is to explore an unknown, for example, collapsed, building and find injured people," they told TASR. Each team member had his own task. The first included mapping, with data accuracy being of paramount importance, determining how the robot will move around and make decisions. Another member was in charge of detecting signs using cameras, which represented injured people in an uncharted territory. The third task involved the robot moving so that it could navigate the planned route as accurately as possible. And finally, the fourth task was to create the most optimal path in an unknown environment based on the generated map. BRATISLAVA - A total of 33,379 battery-powered vehicles of all categories were registered in Slovakia as of late June, which was 65 percent more than in the same period of last year, according to data published by the Slovak Electric Vehicle Association (SEVA). The public charging network also expanded significantly, with 3,707 charging points available to drivers in 1,375 locations. "A year ago, we were talking about surpassing the threshold of 20,000 battery-operated vehicles of all categories. Today, there are more than 33,000 of them. This means that almost two-fifths of the current electric fleet have been added in the space of just one year. This is a development that confirms a gradual and well-deserved shifting of electromobility to the forefront of market attention," stated SEVA director Patrik Krizansky. According to SEVA, the public charging network has expanded not only in terms of the number of charging points on the map; it's also undergone a significant technological upgrade. While its total installed capacity stood at just under 162 MW at the end of June 2025, a year later it was more than 343 MW. am