Orban urges ceasefire in Ukraine to accelerate peace talks

• Orban has also criticized the EU’s decision to open formal membership talks with Kyiv.
• The visit follows Hungary’s taking over the EU’s rotating presidency for the next six months.
• Zelensky noted the timing of the visit as symbolic, urging European countries to maintain military support.

Standing next to President Volodymyr Zelensky during a surprise visit to Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Kyiv on Tuesday to work towards a “quick ceasefire” that could pave the way for negotiations with Russia to end more than two years of war.

“I asked the president to consider whether… a quick ceasefire could speed up the peace talks,” the Hungarian leader told reporters with Zelensky, adding that the ceasefire he envisions would be “time-limited.”

Unlike many other European leaders, Orban had not visited Kyiv since Russia invaded in February 2022. He publicly criticized Europe’s financial and military aid, temporarily blocking a 50-billion-euro ($53-billion) aid package for weeks.

The nationalist leader has also criticized the EU’s decision to open formal membership talks with Kyiv — although he abstained rather than vetoing it — and has faced accusations of maintaining warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In October 2023, Orban, who has been in power since 2010, met with Putin at a regional summit in Beijing, becoming the first EU leader to do so since the start of the war. Hungary openly opposes sanctions on Russia, though it has so far only sought to delay the EU’s measures rather than outright block them.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin expressed low expectations for the visit but characterized Orban as a “tough” politician who vigorously defended his country’s interests.

The visit to Ukraine follows Hungary’s taking over the EU’s rotating presidency for the next six months, a position that grants the central European state influence over the bloc’s agenda and priorities for the rest of the year.

Orban stated that he would report on his talks with Zelensky to EU prime ministers “so that the necessary European decisions can be taken.”

Zelensky noted that the timing of the visit, following Hungary taking over the EU presidency, was symbolic.

“This is a clear indication of our common European priorities, of how important it is to bring a just peace to Ukraine,” he said, urging European countries to maintain military support.

Despite sharing a border with Ukraine, Hungary has also accepted significantly fewer refugees than most EU members. Orban visited as Russian forces killed one person and wounded seven others in the southern Kherson region, which is partially occupied.

Moscow has asserted the capture of a string of villages in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks.

Relations between Orban and Zelensky have been frosty since the start of the war. Following his re-election in April 2022, Orban stated that the Ukrainian leader was an “opponent” whom he had managed to defeat in the campaign.

Zelensky personally criticized Orban for his lack of support to Kyiv in the days after Russia invaded — a position that seems to have only hardened with the war now in its third year. In December, Zelensky approached the Hungarian leader at the inauguration of Argentine President Javier Milei for what he described as a “frank” conversation.

Videos circulated online showing the pair engaged in a tense exchange, with Orban standing with his back to the wall and Zelensky in front of him. Last week, the pair were again filmed in a brief, animated exchange on the sidelines of an EU Council meeting in Brussels.

Hungary holds outsize influence over the West’s support for Ukraine due to its membership in both the EU and NATO. That gives Hungary the ability to thwart, delay, water down, or outright block initiatives and funding to support Kyiv.

After a phone call in May, Zelensky stated, “Hungary’s position is important to us when it comes to advancing peace and regional security.” According to statements from Ukrainian officials, negotiations for a substantive face-to-face meeting between the two leaders have been ongoing for months.

Tensions between Kyiv and Budapest existed before the Russian invasion, stemming from Hungary’s dissatisfaction with Ukraine’s language policies.

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