Viktor Orbán meets Volodymyr Zelenskyy on first wartime trip to Ukraine

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday, marking the first time since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that the EU’s most pro-Russia leader has visited the war-torn country.

Orbán met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior officials just days after the leaders spoke at an EU summit in Brussels. In a video shared on social media after the talks in Ukraine, he said the war “deeply affects European security” and had suggested to Zelenskyy that Ukraine propose a deadline for a ceasefire that would pave the way for full peace talks with Russia.

Zelenskyy said the leaders focused on “how to bring a just and lasting peace closer”. He added that talks on “the most fundamental issues of our relations”, including trade, cross-border co-operation, infrastructure and energy, would form the basis of a new “bilateral document”.

Orbán, the EU and Nato’s most prominent critic of military aid for Kyiv and one of the few western leaders to have met Russian President Vladimir Putin since the 2022 invasion, arrived in Kyiv a day after Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the EU Council.

“We are at Ukraine’s service during the Hungarian presidency. We will help in any way we can,” Orbán said on Tuesday.

Péter Krekó, director of the Budapest-based Political Capital think-tank, said: “As EU presidency holder, Orbán wants to shed the scandalous image and show he is a loyal member of the club. He has not exactly done a U-turn just yet — his vetoism and obstructionism will take longer to unwind — but this may start a positive spiral.

“That will not mean him abandoning the message of an immediate ceasefire and peace [in Ukraine] — any peace deal is likely to require a compromise from both sides and Orbán is ready to reap the political reward if his long-held view prevails.”

During the talks, Zelenskyy also urged all EU leaders to step up their military support to Ukraine.

The Hungarian premier has regularly opposed financial aid to Ukraine and left the room during an EU leaders’ meeting in December in order not to vote against a decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine — a significant milestone on the country’s path to becoming a full EU member.

Orbán’s government has also vetoed seven legal decisions backed by the EU’s other 26 member states that would release €6.6bn tied to weapons supplies to Ukraine. It recently agreed to the start of formal EU accession talks between Kyiv and Brussels after blocking negotiations for much of the past 12 months.

Budapest has justified its hardline position on Ukraine by claiming Kyiv is failing to meet its demands in guaranteeing the rights of the country’s Hungarian minority. The EU accession criteria include minority rights.

Orbán said after the talks he was hopeful of making progress in this area, and agreed to develop Ukrainian-language schools to reflect the large number of refugees in Hungary.

Almost all EU leaders except Orbán had visited Kyiv since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He is also one of only two — along with Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer — to have met Putin in that time.

At a conference in Budapest in December, the Hungarian prime minister said he had accepted an invitation from Zelenskyy to visit Kyiv but added: “I told him I’d be at his disposal. We just have to clarify one question: about what?”

Zelenskyy also invited Orbán to the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland last month. Orbán declined but sent his foreign minister Péter Szijjártó.

In reaction to efforts to prevent Hungary from taking up the EU’s rotating presidency, Orbán has made a pledge to other leaders to be a responsible broker of EU legislation, according to people close to the talks.