NNA - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an outspoken critic of Western military aid to Ukraine, opens new tab, paid a surprise visit to Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Orban, who has the warmest relations of any European leader with Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrived a day after Hungary assumed the rotating six-month presidency of the EU Council. It is his first visit to Kyiv in more than a decade.

"The aim of the Hungarian presidency is to contribute to solving the challenges ahead of the European Union. That's why my first trip was to Kyiv," Orban wrote on Facebook under a photograph of him shaking hands with Zelenskiy.

Separately, his press chief Bertalan Havasi told Reuters in an email that the two leaders would discuss bilateral relations, saying "the most important topic of the talks is the chance to create peace", but gave no details.

Zelenskiy and Orban were expected to deliver statements to reporters later on Tuesday.

Ties between the neighbours have come under heavy strain since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, with Budapest often opposing European Union efforts to support Kyiv.

Under Orban, who upset Western partners by holding talks with Putin last October, Hungary has repeatedly accused Ukraine of curbing the rights of roughly 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in the far west of Ukraine.--Reuters 

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