Russia-Ukraine war live: Viktor Orban urges Zelensky to ‘consider a rapid ceasefire’ on first visit to kyiv

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said peace between Moscow and kyiv was “important not only for Ukraine but for the security of the whole of Europe.”

“My first trip as President of the European Union took me to kyiv, because the issue of peace is important not only for Ukraine but for the security of the whole of Europe,” he wrote on Facebook after a visit to kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine is expected to receive “good news” in its quest for new air defense systems at a NATO summit in Washington next week, a senior U.S. State Department official said Tuesday.

“We hope to be able to go to the summit and make further announcements on air defense,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“You have heard that the Ukrainians are interested in acquiring additional Patriot or similar systems. And I think we will have good news for them on this subject.”

The official did not provide further details.

Ukrainian officials have been urging their allies for months to provide more air defense systems to defend against frequent missile and drone attacks by Russian forces after Moscow invades in 2022.

Leaders are meeting for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Washington from July 9-11, intended in part to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the military alliance.

Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said Tuesday that the military carried out a “destructive strike” against a Russian munitions depot in Moscow-occupied Crimea on Monday.

“Once again, Ukrainian aircraft ‘destroyed’ by enemy propaganda continue to successfully perform combat missions,” Oleshchuk said on Telegram, referring to a Russian Defense Ministry report that five Ukrainian military aircraft had been destroyed at an airfield in the central Poltava region.

Below we have some more details about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s visit to kyiv.

Mr Orban said at a news conference that he wanted to improve ties with Ukraine and sign a broad bilateral cooperation agreement.

At the joint press conference, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the talks between the two leaders in kyiv could serve as a basis for a future agreement between Ukraine and Hungary.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a surprise visit to kyiv to consider a quick ceasefire that could speed up peace talks, Orban said at a news conference with Zelensky.

Mr Orban also said that Hungary wanted to have better bilateral relations with Ukraine and that his country was ready to participate in the modernisation of the Ukrainian economy.

Photos released by the Russian Defense Ministry appear to show Kremlin soldiers on the front lines somewhere in Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in the Ukrainian capital today for his first visit since the full-scale Russian invasion more than two years ago.

The European Union is a staunch ally of Ukraine, but Mr Orban consistently opposes it. So far, Budapest has not supplied kyiv with any weapons.

And on two separate occasions in the past year – once last week in Brussels and, before that, in Buenos Aires for the inauguration of Argentinian President Javier Milei last December – Mr Orban and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were filmed in heated exchanges.

Before Mr Zelensky came to power in 2019, kyiv passed a law requiring all schools to teach students over the age of 10 in Ukrainian.

Hungary considered this a violation of the rights of around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in far western Ukraine.

kyiv has denied any such violations but said it would do everything to address Budapest’s concerns, which mainly concern the linguistic rights of the Hungarian ethnic minority and education in their mother tongue.

Some changes were made in December 2023, when the issue became crucial to kyiv’s EU accession negotiations, but Budapest said the changes were an improvement that did not go far enough.

Mr Orban then used the complaints to block an EU decision to send €50bn (£42bn) to Ukraine last year. That decision required unanimity from all 27 EU members.

The money was only approved after Mr Orban walked out of the room ahead of an EU meeting on the issue, effectively abstaining from making the decision.

Mr Orban is one of the few European leaders to have met Russian leader Vladimir Putin since the autocrat launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

When they met last October, Mr Orban told Mr Putin that Hungary had never wanted to oppose Russia.

The source of their friendship: liquefied natural gas.

While Western European countries have made serious efforts to wean themselves off Russian gas since Moscow’s invasion, landlocked Hungary receives 4.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year from Russia under a 15-year deal signed in 2021.

During a visit to Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg for an economic forum this year, Hungarian officials said they had no intention of stopping imports of Russian gas, despite pressure to do so and accusations that they were helping to fund Putin’s war machine.

Experts suggest that this dependence – along with fears that Russia will turn off the taps – is driving Budapest’s approach to kyiv.