KYIV -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he presented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with a cease-fire proposal aimed at pausing fighting with Russia more than two years into Moscow’s all-out invasion.
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Speaking to reporters after meeting with Zelenskiy in Kyiv, Orban gave no details about the contents of the proposal but said he asked Zelenskiy "whether it was possible to take a break, to stop the firing, and then continue the negotiations,” adding that a cease-fire "could ensure speeding up the pace of these negotiations."
“I am very grateful to the president for his frank opinion on this issue," he added.
The talks, which came one day after Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the European Union, were notable because of Orban’s vocal, persistent criticism of Western military aid for Kyiv.
Orban is also one of the few Western leaders to have met Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion.
Zelenskiy did not express his opinion on the proposal during the briefing with reporters, but a spokesman for Zelenskiy said later on July 2 that Zelenskiy gave Orban an opportunity to air his thoughts. Ihor Zhovkva, Zelenskiy's deputy chief of staff, also said Hungary is not the first country to come forth with a potential peace plan.
Zhovkva said Zelenskiy listened to Orban's proposal but stated Ukraine's "quite clear, understandable, and known" position in response.
Ukraine says its "territorial integrity" must be the foundation of any peace agreement -- a notion underscored by 80 countries that participated in the Ukrainian-initiated Global Peace Summit in Switzerland last month.
Zhovkva described the summit as a "tool" to achieve Kyiv's goals and said that Ukraine is preparing for a second summit. He said Zelenskiy spoke with Orban about these preparations during their meeting.
Since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Orban has stood out among leaders from the European Union and NATO for his reluctance to sign onto the massive Western weapons and aid packages for Ukraine.
Last December, he left a room during a meeting of European Union leaders in order to avoid voting against opening EU accession talks with Ukraine.
The EU has since taken a step toward formalizing those talks to put Ukraine on the path to membership.
Russia and Ukraine have not held formal peace talks since the first months after Moscow’s all-out invasion in February 2022. In recent weeks, Western news outlets have reported on the details of a potential deal that would have met many of Russia's demands while also putting off several major issues for a later date.
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Last month, Putin said Russia would end its war -- which has killed and wounded at least 500,000 soldiers on both sides -- only if Kyiv met certain conditions. Those included renouncing its NATO ambitions and ceding four partially occupied regions that Russia claims in their entirety, in addition to Crimea. Ukraine dismissed the conditions as absurd and said they amounted to capitulation.
Freezing the front lines for a cease-fire now would leave Russia in control of some 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, and analysts warn that a pause could potentially allow Russia to chance to rearm and redeploy troops for a new offensive.
The Guardian, which reported on Orban's visit to Kyiv earlier along with the Financial Times, said the trip came together after lengthy negotiations on the issue of rights for Ukraine’s Hungarian-speaking minority, who live mainly in western Ukraine close to the two countries’ border.
During their July 2 appearance before reporters, the two leaders said they had agreed on the establishment of a Ukrainian school in Hungary for refugees from Ukraine, and they said they planned to sign a new agreement on bilateral relations at some point in the future.
"The contents of our dialogue on all today's issues can become the basis for a future bilateral document between our nations,” Zelenskiy said. The agreement “will allow our people to enjoy all the benefits of unity in Europe.”