Hungarian PM Orban makes first wartime visit to Ukraine | Wilnesh News

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday on his first wartime visit to the war-torn country.

Orban, widely seen as Russia’s closest ally within the EU and an outspoken critic of NATO’s support for Kiev, will meet with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss peace in the European region.

“The talks will focus on the possibilities for peace and current issues in Hungary’s bilateral relations with Ukraine,” Hungarian international spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said. say on social media.

Orban’s visit intensified months of frequent EU opposition to Kyiv’s financial aid package. Orban takes a historic, pre-agreed move Leave the room in December, allowing EU leaders to adopt a unified position on opening accession talks with the war-torn country. The EU formally began membership discussions with Ukraine and Moldova last week, although the road ahead is long and difficult.

Orban, a self-proclaimed “peacemaker”, and his government have refused to send weapons to Ukraine and opposed further NATO support for non-member Kyiv, but have also agreed not to block NATO initiatives. Orban was absent from last month’s Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland, where Hungary was represented by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

The Hungarian prime minister is also one of the few Western leaders to meet with the increasingly isolated Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In October, he assured Putin that Hungary “never wants to confront Russia” Associated Press report.

This week’s visit comes as Orban’s nationalist governmentMake Europe great again“The slogan is reminiscent of former US President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan. It also comes two weeks before a crucial NATO summit on July 9-11, with outgoing Secretary-General Jens Jens Stoltenberg said he hoped the allies would reach an agreement on further long-term policies.

While Orban is not officially on the agenda for a meeting with Zelensky, he has previously raised questions about Ukraine’s alleged failure to safeguard the rights of Hungary’s ethnic minority, which is largely concentrated in the western Ukrainian region of Zakarya. Pathian region.

Hungary outlined required quantity The rights of minorities are a prerequisite for allowing Kyiv to join the EU. Ukraine’s parliament passed a major concession in December that now allows higher education institutions to Free choice of teaching languageexcluding Russian – some of the long-standing fears of the region’s ethnic minorities have been alleviated since the passage of Ukraine’s 2017 law making Ukrainian a compulsory language in public schools beyond fifth grade. causing concern for the EU.