Hungary’s Orban to meet Zelenskiy during Ukraine trip, FT reports

(Reuters) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will make his first trip to kyiv since Russia invaded its small neighbour in 2022 on Tuesday, to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

The visit by Orban, a vocal critic of Western military aid to Ukraine, is due to take place a day after Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The offices of Orban and Zelenskiy did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that Orban would meet Zelenskiy and other senior officials in kyiv just days after the two men held talks at an EU summit in Brussels.

Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally among EU leaders, has frequently opposed numerous EU initiatives to support Ukraine in defending itself against Moscow’s aggression since its February 2022 invasion.

Last year, Orban told Putin that Hungary never wanted to oppose Russia. In early 2024, it took EU leaders weeks to break the Hungarian prime minister’s veto of a new €50 billion ($54 billion) in aid to Ukraine.

Last week, the EU opened accession talks with Ukraine, giving the country a political boost amid its war against Russian invasion, though a long and difficult road still lies before it can join the bloc.

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(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Leslie Adler))