The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, is making his first visit to Ukraine after the invasion of Russia this Tuesday, despite the links between Budapest and Moscow and the opposition about aid to Kiev.
The Hungarian nationalist leader “arrived in Kiev for meetings with Ukrainian President Volodimyr Zelensky”, said Bertaland Havasi from Orbán’s press office, cited by the MTI news agency.
The objective, stressed Havasi, is to discuss “the possibility of achieving peace”, he added.
Hungary is currently assuming the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union – for six months – with Viktor Orbán standing out from other Western leaders over the war in Ukraine.
The Hungarian Prime Minister has regularly blocked military aid to Ukraine and continues to call for a ceasefire.
At the beginning of the year, Hungary’s chief executive even vetoed a 50 billion euro financial aid package for Ukraine, which ended up being approved after strong criticism from Kiev.
The Hungarian eurosceptic leader, in power without interruption since 2010, also opposed any discussion about Ukraine’s accession to the European Union (EU), considering that the country ” is not prepared.”
At the EU leaders’ summit in December 2023, he finally agreed to abandon the issue, while his 26 counterparts decided to open accession negotiations with Kiev.
On Monday, the President of Ukraine congratulated Hungary on the start of the EU Presidency and said he hoped the country would promote “common European values, objectives and interests”.
Viktor Orbán remains close to Russia and President Vladimir Putin, with whom the West has cut ties since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022.
Russia continues to be an important source of Hungary’s energy needs.
The Hungarian leader also disapproves of the European sanctions voted against Russia and is trying to mitigate them, without however blocking them completely.
Viktor Orbán has several times described the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 20222 as a “military operation”, using the expression imposed by the Russian Presidency having met with Vladimir Putin in Beijing, in October 2023, to discuss topics related to energy cooperation.
