Ukraine updates: Orban visits Kyiv for first time since war

Ahead of next week's NATO summit in Washington, D.C., US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the chief of staff of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Blinken and Andriy Yermak discussed the intention of the alliance members to bring Ukraine closer, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said.

Blinken vowed that the NATO summit would "help build a bridge" to Ukrainian membership.

The two also discussed strengthening Kyiv's ability to defend against Russia's aggression, Patel added.

Ukraine is hoping to secure more assurances from NATO regarding its membership bid.

The United States will soon announce more than $2.3 billion (roughly €2.14 billion) in new security assistance to Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said shortly before entering a meeting with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in Washington.

"This package, under presidential drawdown authority, will provide more air defense interceptors, anti-tank weapons and other critical munitions from US inventories," he said.

Ukrainian officials have been pressing their allies for months for more air defense systems in response to frequent missile and drone attacks by Russian forces.

According to Austin, the latest arms package for Ukraine would allow for the accelerated procurement of NASAMS and Patriot air defense interceptors.

The United States has provided Ukraine with more than $50 billion worth of military aid since 2022, but there are concerns about the future of US support for Kyiv should Donald Trump win the November 5 presidential election.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's visit to Ukraine has raised the eyebrows of many in Kyiv and Brussels, according to DW correspondents in these capitals.

"There is a lot of head scratching going on in Kyiv. People are trying to work out what exactly Viktor Orban brought with him and why now," says Nick Connolly, DW correspondent in the Ukrainian capital.

He said there had been speculation that maybe Orban was bringing some secret messages, some kind of back-channel information from Moscow, but Connolly stressed that he had his doubts on that front: "There are lots of other better intermediaries who are not as toxic as seen from the Ukrainian perspective," he added.

Connolly sees the visit as damage limitation from the Ukrainian point of view. "They realize that Orban will not become the full-throated supporter of Ukraine, but what they can do — they can try to do concrete deals… to just hope that Hungary gets out of the way," he said.

Meanwhile, Bernd Riegert, DW's correspondent in Brussels, said that while Orban was talking about the path to peace in Kyiv, Hungary's ambassador to the EU could not specify what exactly that means, or clarify whether Orban had any new proposals.

He also noted that Hungary's position on Ukraine has not changed so far and that Budapest is trying to block EU aid to Ukraine at almost every step. "And Hungary is the only member state with its own position, all others support Ukraine," Riegert said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on Tuesday for the first government consultations between Germany and its eastern neighbor since 2018.

You can follow updates on those talks here. 

In Warsaw, Scholz emphasized that Germany and Poland were among the biggest supporters of Ukraine — politically, militarily and in taking in refugees.

Meanwhile, Tusk stressed that Germany's commitment to security in Europe was the most important thing for him at the moment, in light of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

"For me it is important that Germany is ready to assume much greater responsibility for the security of the continent, so that there will be no war in Europe," he said.

The leaders agreed on a 40-page action plan, in which Russia is described as "the most immediate threat to Euro-Atlantic security."

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has reminded EU countries "in the most brutal way imaginable" of the importance of securing peace in Europe and "that Europe must be able to defend itself," the action plan says.

A large part of the plan deals with the countries' current defense issues. Specifically, the paper refers to the development of joint initiatives in the field of tanks and ammunition, including increasing the availability of spare parts for Leopard battle tanks, which both countries have supplied to Ukraine.

EU and NATO member Poland has been one of Ukraine's staunchest political and military supporters. The country borders Ukraine, Russia, and Russian ally Belarus, as well as Germany.

The Ukrainian military carried out a "destructive strike" on a Russian ammunition depot in Moscow-occupied Crimea on Monday, Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said.

Oleshchuk did not specify the exact location, but posted a video from a local Ukraine-linked Telegram channel, Krymskiy Veter, purporting to show the strike on Balaklava, near Sevastopol.

The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mihail Razvozhaev, said that the air force had destroyed five Ukrainian targets over the Black Sea and in the Balaklava district, but did not mention any extensive damage.

Over the past two years of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has carried out several air and naval strikes on Russian targets in Crimea, causing significant damage to Moscow's fleet in the Black Sea.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for the swift establishment of a cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia.

"I asked [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy] to consider whether… a quick cease-fire could speed up the peace talks," Orban told reporters during a joint press conference alongside Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Orban said that he envisioned a time-bound cease-fire.

Zelenskyy called for the war to end with a "just peace."

"We appreciate that your visit takes place right after the start of the Hungarian Presidency of the European Union. This is a clear indication of our common European priorities, of how important it is to bring a just peace to Ukraine," Zelenskyy said, addressing Orban at the joint press conference.

The Ukrainian president also called for EU member states to maintain military aid for Kyiv.

"It is also very important for all of us in Europe that Europe's support for Ukraine remains at a sufficient level, including our defense against Russian terror," he said.

Orban has repeatedly criticized EU military support for Kyiv and used vetoes to delay aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has congratulated outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on his appointment as NATO's secretary-general.

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said he had spoken to Rutte in a telephone call and thanked him for the military, political, and humanitarian support the Netherlands had provided to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy made his comments as Dutch King Willem-Alexander swore in former spy chief Dick Schoof as new prime minister Tuesday, at the head of a right-wing coalition Cabinet.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is holding talks with US opposite number Lloyd Austin in Washington to talk about more military cooperation between the two countries.

"Secretary Austin and Minister Umerov will discuss bilateral defense cooperation, regional security issues, and ways to strengthen the defense partnership between the United States and Ukraine," Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a press briefing.

The talks follow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's reassertion of his plea to allies for more weapons. That came after a Russian air strike in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region killed seven people.

The US is the biggest individual provider of military help to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, providing the country with more than $50 billion in military aid since 2022.

Russia says it has destroyed five Ukrainian SU-27 fighter jets and damaged two more at Ukraine's Myrhorod airfield in the central Poltava region.

Russia's Defense Ministry published footage of the attack showing smoke and flames rising from an airfield. It did not say when the attack occurred but specified that it was carried out using Iskander-M missiles.

"As a result of the Russian strike, five active SU-27 multi-purpose fighters were destroyed and two were damaged," the Russian ministry said.

Russia is particularly keen to target Ukrainian airfields just as Kyiv readies for the arrival of the first US-designed F-16s, which Moscow has promised it will destroy.

Ukraine said the airfield had been struck but that the Russian claim had been exaggerated, although it did not detail exactly what had been damaged.

"There was an attack. There are some losses, but not the ones the enemy claims, after all, they have always done this since the beginning of the invasion," Ukrainian air force official Yuriy Ihnat wrote in a statement.

The prime minister of Hungary is visiting Ukraine for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Viktor Orban arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday morning for planned discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It is understood that Orban and Zelenskyy will discuss opportunities for creating peace, as well as Hungarian-Ukrainian bilateral relations. 

Orban has "arrived in Kyiv for discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy," his press secretary Bertalan Havasi said. 

The only EU leader to have maintained ties with Russia since the 2022 invasion, Orban is said to have warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Hungarian prime minister has publicly criticized Europe's financial and military aid for Kyiv and temporarily blocked a 50-billion euro aid package for weeks.

Orban met Putin in October 2023 at a regional summit in Beijing, making him the first EU leader to do so since the war in Ukraine began.

In power since 2010, the nationalist leader has also condemned Brussels' efforts to open formal European Union membership talks with Kyiv. However, he abstained rather than vetoed it. 

rc,dh/fb,msh (AFP, Reuters)