Hungary renewed its calls for a "ceasefire" in response to Ukraine's ongoing incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, told reporters on Aug. 22.
The Hungarian government’s arguments against Ukraine’s sanctions on Russian oil company Lukoil are falling apart. Hungary accused Ukraine of “blackmail” and endangering its energy security after Ukrainian sanctions blocked Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil company, from transiting crude oil through the Druzhba pipeline in June. Hungary and Slovakia
"I do not understand why Hungary wants to remain a member of organizations that they dislike so much and that supposedly mistreat them," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski said.
Russia blamed the U.S. and U.K. for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines connecting Russia and Germany in September 2022. Investigations have so far failed to find conclusive evidence, and both Denmark and Sweden dropped the case in February 2024. The German investigation is still ongoing.
During an interview on state radio, Orban said that the EU needs to join China and the U.S. in light of potential Trump's return to power to press Russia and Ukraine to start peace negotiations, Bloomberg reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin may approach individual European leaders to "tempt, pressure, or blackmail" them so that one "betrays the rest," President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the European Political Community Summit, attended by a Kyiv Independent reporter.
European Council President Charles Michel criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on July 16 for launching a self-styled Ukraine "peace mission" without EU backing.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the EU should restore diplomatic relations with Russia, listing it as one of the conclusions of his supposed "peace mission," Bild reported on July 16, citing Orban's letter it had obtained.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump "has detailed and well-founded plans for (a peace plan)."
"In light of recent developments marking the start of the Hungarian Presidency, the President (Ursula von der Leyen) has decided that the European Commission will be represented at senior civil servant level only during informal meetings of the Council," said von der Leyen's spokesperson Eric Mamer.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban presented Budapest's proposal on how achieve peace in Ukraine in a letter sent to European leaders, a Hungarian government official said in an interview published on July 15.
"If there's a formal foreign affairs council, organized by the high representative (Borrell) the same day, the ministers won't be able to go to Budapest," one diplomat told Politico.
Key updates on July 14: * Ukraine has right to strike military targets within Russian territory, Stoltenberg says * Russian attacks kill 13, injure 54 in Ukraine over past day * Lukashenko claims Belarus is withdrawing troops from Ukrainian border * Russia claims launch of 3-ton aerial glide bombs from Su-34 jets against Ukraine
Orban refused to back military support for Ukraine during the summit on July 11 and suggested that Kyiv should not join the alliance, according to Bloomberg’s sources
"We discussed ways to make peace. The good news of the day: he’s going to solve it," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote on X.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban may travel to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after the NATO summit in Washington, where allies affirmed Ukraine's "irreversible" path toward membership as well as $43 billion in funding for next year.
EU ambassadors lambasted Hungary during a meeting in Brussels over the Hungarian prime minister's so-called "peace mission" in Russia and China, undisclosed European diplomats told the media.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban summarized his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow while echoing the Kremlin's stances on its war against Ukraine in a letter obtained by Politico and published on July 9.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on July 5, just days after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
Viktor Orban, whose country took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU earlier in the month, called the visit to Beijing a third step in his "peace mission."
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him he did not have positive expectations of enacting a ceasefire agreement before serious peace talks begin.
Hungary canceled German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's planned visit to Budapest, Germany's Foreign Office said on July 5, after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's trip to Moscow.
During his speech, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico criticized what he referred to as liberal and progressive political ideologies and expressed praise for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The insight came to him during a trip to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, just days after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Moscow on July 5, just days after his first trip to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war, Orban's press office told the media.
Viktor Orban's steps show that he is "playing a different game and using the vacuum while the compositions of these (EU) institutions are changing" after the European elections, said Pavel Havlicek, a research fellow at the Association for International Affairs.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will visit Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 5, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on July 4 citing an unnamed Hungarian government source.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Kyiv on July 2, in what became his first visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. The visit came two days into Hungary's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, also known as the Council of Ministers. The
Key developments on July 2: * Orban urges Zelensky to consider ceasefire during visit to Kyiv * U.S. to announce $2.3 billion military aid package to Ukraine 'soon' * Ukraine hit ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea, Air Force confirms * Active Russia-Ukraine front line has expanded, Syrskyi says * NATO plans to establish
Kyiv previously rejected a temporary break to hostilities, saying it would only provide a window of opportunity for Russia to regroup its forces.
The previous day, unnamed sources in Budapest told the Guardian that the visit was confirmed after negotiations on the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority living in Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will make a surprise visit to Kyiv on July 2, three sources told the Guardian on July 1.
