Orbán defends immediate ceasefire in Kiev, Zelensky calls for “just and lasting peace” (war, day 860)
This Tuesday, Viktor Orbán visited Kiev for the first time since the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022 with the aim of discussing the “possibility of achieving peace†, as Bertaland Havasi said , from his press office, cited by the news agency MTI. Hungary’s prime minister met with Volodymyr Zelensky a day after the country assumed the rotating and semi-annual presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Over the past two and a half years, Orbán has repeatedly blocked European financial and military assistance to Ukraine, advocating instead a ceasefire for peace negotiations. It was this same position he took in the meeting with the President of Ukraine, according to AFP. “I asked the President [Zelensky] to consider the possibility of a ceasefire as quickly as possible”, which would be “limited in time and would allow peace negotiations to be accelerated”, he declared.
In a video released by Volodymyr Zelensky on social media, Viktor Orbán states that he went to Kiev to understand the paths to peace from the perspective of the Ukrainian authorities. “We are very much in favor of peace. I would like you to understand that this is my mission, to understand how you see the possibilities of peace,’ he said, according to EFE.
Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that the talks would focus on the steps to be taken towards a “just and lasting†peace, which in his opinion should precede any ceasefire with a view to negotiations with Moscow.
The Ukrainian President reiterated the need for continued EU financial and military support for Ukraine. “It is also very important for all of us in Europe that European support for Ukraine remains at a sufficient level, including our defense against Russian terror,†he explained during the joint press conference.
It should be remembered that Hungary has, on several occasions, made it difficult for the bloc to approve support measures for Ukraine. At the beginning of this year, Orbán even vetoed a financial aid package worth 50 billion euros, which ended up having the green light after Kiev’s objection, according to Lusa.
Viktor Orbán is the only European leader who remains on the radar of Vladimir Putin and Russia, with whom the other countries have cut ties since the start of the war in Ukraine. In addition to describing the Russian invasion several times as a “military operation†, an expression similar to that used officially by Moscow, the Hungarian prime minister opposed long to any discussion about Ukraine’s accession to the EU. In December 2023, he decided to abstain from voting on the start of negotiations, allowing them to finally have the green light.
The head of the Hungarian Government met with Putin in Beijing, in October 2023, to discuss issues related to energy cooperation, as Moscow continues to be an essential source for meeting energy needs of your country, observes Lusa. Despite not having completely blocked European sanctions against Russia, Hungary has been making several efforts to lessen their impact.
Other news that marked the day:
â The US will send a new aid package to Ukraine worth 2.3 billion dollars (2.14 billion euros), which includes air defense and anti-tank weapons, the secretary announced of North-American Defense Lloyd Austin, cited by Lusa. In recent days, the President of Ukraine had once again asked for more weapons, namely Patriot systems and F-16 fighters, to increase the Ukrainian forces’ ability to respond to the massive use of glide bombs by part of Russia.
⇒ Russia continues to claim advances on Ukraine’s eastern front. In the last 24 hours, Russian forces have launched the largest number of attacks towards the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. At the same time, progress was made by Russian troops in four areas of the combat front in the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, revealed DeepState, a Ukrainian military channel on Telegram. On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Defense had announced the seizure of two more locations, in the northeast of Kharkiv and in Donetsk, after having occupied four others in Donetsk in the previous three days, Lusa summarized.
⇒ NATO intends to create a permanent representation post in Kiev, as well as a new command center in Germany to coordinate assistance to Ukraine, revealed senior officials from the United States and allied countries, cited by ‘The Wall Street Journal’. The objective is to safeguard long-term aid for Kiev in the face of the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The former US president has systematically criticized NATO and the military support provided to Kiev.
