It can't have been an easy meeting for Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday, but both leaders mustered a smile as they shook hands for the cameras.

"I asked the Ukrainian president to think about whether we could reverse the order, to speed up peace talks by making a ceasefire first," Orban, a strident nationalist, said in a brief press statement alongside Zelenskyy in Kyiv, during his first visit to Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"A ceasefire connected to a deadline would give a chance to speed up peace talks," said Orban, the EU leader with the friendliest relations with Russia, who has frequently delayed sanctions on Kremlin officials and EU military aid packages for Ukraine. "I explored this possibility with the president, and I am grateful for his honest answers and negotiation."

Zelenskyy himself made no mention of Orbán's........

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