Orban calls for Ukraine ceasefire to speed up peace talks

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Kiev on Tuesday to work towards a "quick ceasefire" in Ukraine that could pave the way for negotiations with Russia to end more than two years of war.

Orban issued the appeal standing next to President Volodymyr Zelensky during a surprise visit to Ukraine, the first by the vocal critic of Western support for Kiev.

"I asked the president to consider whether... a quick ceasefire could speed up the peace talks," the Hungarian leader told reporters with Zelensky, adding that the ceasefire he envisions would be "time-limited".

Unlike many other European leaders, Orban had not visited Kiev since Russia invaded in February 2022 and has publicly hit out at Europe's financial and military aid, temporarily blocking a 50-billion-euro ($53-billion) aid package for weeks.

The nationalist leader has also blasted the EU's move to open formal membership talks with Kiev — though he abstained rather than vetoing it — and has been accused of maintaining warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Orban, in power since 2010, met with Putin in October 2023 at a regional summit in Beijing, becoming the first EU leader to do so since the start of the war.

  A 'just peace'  

Hungary openly opposes sanctions on Russia, though has so far only sought to hold up the EU's measures, not outright block them.

The Kremlin said earlier Tuesday it expected little to come of the visit but described Orban as a "tough" politician who keenly defended his country's interests.

The visit to Ukraine comes the day after Hungary took over the EU's rotating presidency for the next six months, a position which gives the central European state...