Hungarian prime minister agrees to meet with Zelensky amid tensions

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Thursday he has agreed to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, announcing the bilateral meeting following his blockage of a $54 billion European Union package to Kyiv.

Orbán said he recently met Zelensky in Argentina, and the Ukrainian leader had requested a meeting at a future point.

“I accepted his invitation,” Orbán said at an end-of-year press conference in Budapest. “I said, ‘Yes, let’s discuss, but what should we discuss?'”

Orbán said Zelensky had specifically requested a discussion about EU membership. The EU recently opened accession talks with Ukraine.

Unlike many European nations, Hungary has not provided arms to Ukraine to help the country defend against a Russian invasion.

Orbán, a popular right-wing politician, also has much closer relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin than leaders in other countries and met with the Russian leader in October.

At the press conference, Orbán was pushed on the Zelensky meeting and on why he refused to refer to the war in Ukraine as such during the Putin meeting.

“Next time I meet him I’ll be happy to use that,” he said, though he also argued that both Russia and the U.S. could not tell Hungary “what we can say.”

Orbán’s blocking of the EU package was a major blow to Ukraine, which is struggling against a larger Russian army and is relying on Western security assistance to stay in the fight.

Ukraine’s biggest ally, the U.S., is also holding back assistance as lawmakers have reached an impasse on border security, which is tied to a Ukraine funding bill.

Analysts have told The Hill that EU funding is crucial while the U.S. debate plays out to prevent a disastrous situation in Ukraine. Another vote will come up in January.

Orbán said Thursday that Hungary does not seek to block Ukraine funding but wants the EU to “make good decisions,” raising concerns that the bill he blocked would have authorized money to Kyiv that wasn’t available yet and could have damaged the European budget.

“To just give money to Ukraine from the budget and to threaten other lines of the budget, including Hungarian funds … is not a good decision,” he said. “So let’s make a good decision.”