“More surprise meetings coming soon” – Update on the war in Ukraine on July 9

On a day when Ukrainians mourned the loss of young children and dozens of other civilians following a Russian airstrike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv and elsewhere in the country, a letter from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to European Council President Charles Michel and EU leaders surfaced in Brussels, reporting on his visit to Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin and largely plagiarizing Russian propaganda about “peace for Ukraine.”

Orbán, who visited Moscow on Friday, wrote in his communiqué that Putin’s view of the situation at the front “differs significantly from President Zelensky’s understanding.”

“Putin did not mention Russian losses at all. As for Ukrainian losses, the Russian side estimates the monthly losses of the Ukrainian armed forces at 40,000-50,000 soldiers, which have increased even further in recent weeks. Therefore, he was surprised that the Ukrainian president rejected the proposal for a temporary ceasefire,” wrote the Hungarian right-wing populist leader.

The number of casualties is notoriously difficult to determine, but the United States estimates that about 350,000 Russian soldiers have died since the beginning of Moscow’s invasion (official sources in Kiev and British estimates put the figure at half a million soldiers) and that a total of about 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in combat.

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Ukraine seeks air defence at NATO summit

Since Ukraine is unlikely to receive the NATO membership invitation it seeks, new air defense systems are the most concrete help the country is likely to receive at the summit.

According to United Nations estimates, more than 11,000 civilians were killed in the conflict.

The Hungarian Prime Minister added that Russia – according to Putin – is only ready to agree to the conditions it set during the talks in Istanbul in April 2022, “in particular, the fifth paragraph of the document, which defines the international security guarantees to be provided to Ukraine.” This refers to the veto of the so-called security guarantors for Ukraine in the event of the use of force against it, and Russia wants to see itself among these guarantors, Ukrainska Pravda clarified.

Orbán has become a pariah in Brussels and may be the only EU leader to be welcomed on Red Square. According to a report in Ukrainska Pravda, he said Moscow was ready for an “exchange of views” on the so-called peace proposal from China and Brazil.

This “proposal” envisages “peace talks” between Ukraine and Russia and makes no mention of the need to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

“Given the intensification of hostilities and the rapid increase in casualties, time is of the essence. If we do not stop this process, we will witness more dramatic losses and military developments on the front lines in the next two months than ever before,” Orbán wrote.

Orbán said he had promised “further surprise meetings (shortly)”.

Despite calls for his resignation, Biden defiantly continues his presidential campaign

While more and more voices within his own party were calling for 81-year-old US President Joe Biden to resign after his miserable performance in the televised debate against anti-Ukraine candidate Donald Trump, Biden appeared unmoved in a telephone interview with MSNBC on Monday and welcomed all challengers.

“Anyone who thinks I shouldn’t run is running against me. Anyone who runs for president will challenge me at the convention,” he said. The Democratic Party convention will take place in Chicago from August 19 to 22.

At the start of a crucial week that also includes a NATO summit in Washington, Biden had previously written in a letter to Congress: “I am determined to stay in the race… It is time to come together, move forward as a united party and defeat Donald Trump,” he said. “It is time for this to end.”

Biden, who served in the U.S. Senate from his election in 1972 until he became vice president under Barack Obama in 2009 and before being elected president himself in November 2020, came under criticism after his performance at the debate on June 27 this year, when he appeared largely incoherent and appeared to need help from his wife, Jill, to leave the stage. He later said he would not hold any public events after 8 p.m.

In an interview with Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, the other Joe, President Biden, said: “Well, look – Democrats – Joe, let me put it this way, the reason I’ve been traveling so much, all over the country, while Trump is driving around in a golf cart, filling up his golf cart before he even hits the ball – but anyway, he’s been nowhere for ten days, I’ve been all over the country, No. 1,” he said.

He continued, “And I traveled around the country for a couple of reasons. First, to make sure that my instincts were right and the party still wanted me as the nominee. And all the data, all the data shows that the average Democrat who voted, 14 million of them who voted for me, still wants me to be the nominee, number 1.”

Xi meets with Orbán and says world powers should help Russia find a solution

After his visit to Moscow, Orbán met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, who told Orbán, a Russian ally and EU member, that world powers should help Russia and Ukraine start negotiations.

Orbán, whose country is a NATO member, visited China one day before NATO is scheduled to hold its 75th anniversary summit in Washington. The Hungarian president’s “surprise visit” to Moscow did not earn him much praise within the alliance.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing that Orbán’s trip to the two capitals “certainly does not appear to be productive in terms of efforts to make a difference in Ukraine.”

AFP noted that China refused to condemn the Russian invasion and published a paper last year calling for a “political solution” to the conflict, which Western countries believe could allow Russia to keep much of the territory it has seized in Ukraine.

Although Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the EU Council in early July, the bloc’s foreign minister, Josep Borrell, said Orbán had “not received a mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow.”