Hungary's Viktor Orban makes unexpected visit to Kyiv amidst tensions

Victor Orban appeared unexpectedly in Kyiv. This is the first visit of the Hungarian leader to Ukraine since the outbreak of the full-scale war. "Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Kyiv this morning to discuss peace in Europe with President Volodymyr Zelensky," informed Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs at 10 a.m. ET (Eastern Time).

"The talks will focus on possibilities for achieving peace, as well as current issues in Hungarian-Ukrainian bilateral relations," added Kovacs.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked by journalists about Orban's visit to Ukraine. "We don’t expect anything and it’s probably not up to us to comment on the issue," he replied.

"Hungary has taken the Presidency [of the Council] of the EU and it clearly has to perform its duties. This is why I think that in this particular case, the focus will be on [Orban’s] obligations with regard to Brussels’ interests rather than Hungary’s national interests," added the Kremlin spokesman.

However, Peskov emphasized, "Orban is well known as a politician who knows how to defend his country's interests in quite a tough manner."

The Reuters agency reported that Orban, the closest ally of Vladimir Putin among EU leaders, has repeatedly opposed many EU initiatives aimed at supporting Ukraine in its defence against Moscow's aggression since the Russian invasion began in February 2022.

A longstanding issue in Hungary-Ukraine relations remains the approximately 100,000-strong Hungarian minority in Ukraine's Transcarpathia region. Budapest demands that Kyiv restore the provisions from before 2017, when the educational law came into effect, which, according to Orban's government, targets the Hungarian minority. In 2012, the Hungarian language also lost its status as a regional language in Transcarpathia.