This was the tense visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister to Ukraine: he asked President Volodymyr Zelensky for a ceasefire

ANDHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in kyiv on Tuesday. with whom he held an “important conversation on the future of Europe, security, international law and the Ukrainian Peace Formula,” according to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak.

By the way, On his first visit to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, Orban urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to quickly consider a “ceasefire” to achieve peace.

“I asked the president to consider the possibility of a ceasefire quickly,” which would be “limited in time and would allow for the acceleration of peace negotiations,” declared the nationalist leader, the only one in the EU close to the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leader responded to Orban saying that Europe must continue to help kyiv so that it can continue to defend itself against the invasion.

“It is also very important for all of us in Europe that Europe’s support for Ukraine remains at a sufficient level, including for our defence against Russian terror,” he said at a press conference during a visit to kyiv by the Hungarian leader, known for his closeness to Moscow and whose country has just assumed the six-month presidency of the EU.

Hungary calls for Ukraine to sit down at the negotiating table

“A lot of work has been done for this visit. An important conversation about the future of Europe, security, international law and the Peace Formula,” Yermak wrote on his account, posting alongside his message a photograph of Zelensky and Orbán shaking hands against a background of Ukrainian, Hungarian and EU flags at the presidential palace in kyiv.

The Ukrainian Peace Formula is a document promoted by Zelensky that contains ten demands from Russia, including the withdrawal of its troops from all Ukrainian territory. Hungary did not sign the final communiqué of the Peace Summit organised on the initiative of Ukraine in Switzerland in mid-June. The text included some of the demands of the Peace Formula.

Orbán made a surprise trip to kyiv on Tuesday, his first trip to Ukraine since the start of the war. It is also Orbán’s first trip since Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the European Union on Monday.

The Hungarian president has positioned himself against most European initiatives to provide military and financial aid to Ukraine in the context of the Russian invasion. Orbán has also opposed sanctions against Russia, although he has given in at key moments after lengthy negotiations in which he has been offered compensation in exchange for lifting the veto.

Orbán believes that Ukraine is violating the rights of the country’s Hungarian minority with its policies to consolidate Ukrainian as the national lingua franca throughout the country and rejects kyiv’s continued rapprochement with the EU until its demands in this regard are met.

The Hungarian prime minister is against sending weapons to Ukraine and is calling for negotiations to end the conflict, something that kyiv rejects, believing that this would inevitably mean the cession of territories to Russia.

The Hungarian politician is perceived by many in Ukraine and the rest of the world as President Vladimir Putin’s main advocate within NATO and the Western world.

*With AFP and Efe