Visiting Kyiv on Tuesday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider a ceasefire tied to a deadline.
At a joint press conference with the Ukrainian president, PM Orbán thanked his host for the invitation, noting that they had agreed to today’s talks in Brussels last Thursday. He said it was his first foreign trip after Hungary assumed the European Union’s presidency, adding: “Peace is important not only for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe.” PM Orbán said he appreciated Zelensky’s initiatives aimed at creating peace, but added that those initiatives would take a long time to come to fruition. “The ways of international diplomacy are slow and complicated … I put it to the president that we should consider whether the order may be reversed by speeding up peace talks with a quick ceasefire,” he said. “A ceasefire tied to a deadline, which could offer the opportunity to accelerate peace talks; I have assessed the options for that scenario,” he added. Orbán said he had cleared those issues up with Zelensky, adding he was grateful for the honest talks and answers. He said he would prepare a report for the European Council “that could be a baseline for the necessary European decisions”.