CNN
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is paying his first visit to Ukraine since the all-out war with Russia began in February 2022.
“Viktor Orban arrived in Kyiv this morning to talk to President Volodymyr Zelensky about peace in Europe,” Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs posted on X on Tuesday.
The focus of the talks between the two heads of state would be “ways to achieve peace and current issues in bilateral relations between Hungary and Ukraine,” Kovacs added.
Orban is a polarizing figure when it comes to European support for Ukraine. The authoritarian Hungarian leader has regularly tried to suppress European Union initiatives to offer Kyiv further military and financial support during the conflict.
Hungary’s prime minister also maintains a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has often been criticized. Their connection is based on both economic cooperation and shared values.
Both leaders have also taken measures against LGBTQ rights and restricted freedom of expression in their countries. Hungary supported Russia at the UN level and rejected EU sanctions following Putin’s aggression in Ukraine in 2014 after Russia illegally annexed Crimea.
Tuesday’s meeting comes as Orban and Hungary take over the EU Council presidency, which rotates every six months. During each six-month period, the country holding the presidency does not control the EU’s overall agenda, but has a platform to push its own priorities.
The EU Council website compares the Presidency to someone “hosting a dinner and making sure that all the guests come together in harmony”. To ensure efficiency, the Presidency acts as an “honest broker” that stands above the President’s national interests.
Orban took office on Monday with a call to “Make Europe Great Again,” a reference to Donald Trump’s political slogan, which is likely to worry many of his European counterparts who are bracing for a possible return of the former US president to the White House and worry about what this might mean for the EU.
More important diplomatic meetings with Europe are planned for July. From July 9 to 11, NATO will celebrate the Alliance’s 75th anniversary in Washington, DC. The agenda for this event is expected to be dominated by long-term plans to support Ukraine and discussions about its eventual accession to the Alliance.
The European Political Community (EPG), a forum for 47 European countries inside and outside the EU to discuss the continent’s strategic challenges, will also meet in the UK on 18 July. Ukraine and Hungary are both members of the EPG.
Ukraine is expected to dominate the agenda and Zelensky may attend the meeting in person. Orban may have had this in mind when timing his trip to Kyiv to ensure that his first meeting with the Ukrainian president since the start of the war did not take place in such a public and diplomatically demanding setting.
