Leaders of Russia and Hungary meet over Ukraine
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday said positions in the Ukraine war were "far apart" and "many" steps would be needed to end the conflict after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. "I have found that positions are far apart. The number of steps needed to end the war and bring about peace are many," the Hungarian leader told a press conference alongside Putin. "But in terms of dialogue and restoring dialogue, the first important step has been taken today and I will continue this work," he added. Putin told Orban that Ukraine must abandon four regions in the east and south that Moscow claims as its own if Kyiv wants peace. "We are talking about the full withdrawal of all troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, and from the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions," Putin said in televised remarks after what he called a "frank and useful" conversation with Orban in Moscow. Orban informed Nato ahead of his visit to Moscow, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said. "Of course, Viktor Orban is not representing Nato at these meetings. He's representing his own country," Stoltenberg said. "Hungary agrees that Russia is responsible for the war. Russia is the perpetrator, and Russia can end this war today by stopping attacking Ukraine," he added. Orban unsettled the European Union and Nato allies by flying to Moscow to sit down for talks with Putin, with whom he has long fostered friendly relations. Putin said he viewed Orban as a representative for Europe, despite EU leaders emphasising that Orban was acting on his own initiative in an exclusively bilateral role with no mandate to speak for the bloc. (AFP)