Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday to consider a ceasefire with Russia in the hope it would speed up peace negotiations.
"I asked Zelensky to consider another approach to this: making a break, ceasing fire, and then continuing the talks. A ceasefire could accelerate the talks," Orban told reporters after meeting with Zelensky in Kiev.
Orban's surprise trip to Kiev is the first such visit in 12 years. It comes a day after Hungary took over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union. Orban's spokesman, Bertalan Havasi, said the prime minister planned to discuss peace efforts in Ukraine and their bilateral agenda.
Orban said later in the day that he would prepare a report on the talks with Zelensky and submit it to the Council of the European Union.
"Naturally, I will prepare a report about the talks for the Council of the EU, meaning the EU's prime ministers, on the basis of which necessary European decisions could be made," he said during a press conference.
Orban said in an interview with Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche that Zelensky has reservations about the idea of a ceasefire to negotiate.
"He has some reservations about it. He was too unimpressed about it. He said, let us reflect on it, let us think about it. He has some bad experiences with previous ceasefires, which, in his interpretation, were not good for Ukraine. So he understood the position, he explained his limitations, and we will see how we can proceed," the Hungarian prime minister said.