Orban's surprise visit to Kyiv: Talks with Zelensky amid tension

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is scheduled to travel to Kyiv on Tuesday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reports "The Guardian," citing sources close to the Hungarian government. This would be Orban's first trip to Ukraine since the onset of the Russian invasion.

The Ukrainian Pravda website reported on Friday that Viktor Orban may soon meet with Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine, under pressure from the European Union. Since the beginning of Russian aggression, neither Orban nor Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has visited Kyiv.

However, both have met with top Russian politicians: Szijjarto with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Orban with Vladimir Putin. According to three sources knowledgeable about the Hungarian Prime Minister's plans, Orban is set to depart for Kyiv as early as Tuesday as part of an unexpected visit, writes "The Guardian."

Zelensky's advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, declined to comment on Orban's potential visit to Ukraine. Another source in Kyiv, however, confirmed that such a visit will take place. "Orban will be here tomorrow, barring any last-minute changes," the source stated.

There is no guarantee that the meeting between Orban and Zelensky will lead to a breakthrough in the challenging bilateral relations. Ihor Havrylyuk, an expert from the Kazimierz Pułaski Foundation, noted in a conversation with PAP that the Hungarian Prime Minister will strive to extract as many concessions as possible from Ukraine.

A longstanding issue in bilateral relations remains the approximately 100,000-strong Hungarian minority in Ukraine's Transcarpathia region. Budapest demands that the Ukrainian authorities reinstate provisions before 2017, before the education law came into force, which the Orban government claims negatively impacts the Hungarian minority. In 2012, the Hungarian language also lost its status as a regional language in Transcarpathia.

As Havrylyuk pointed out, the Hungarian government handed Kyiv a list of 11 demands, the fulfillment of which is conditional on Hungary's stance towards EU accession talks with Ukraine. While the Orban government has not officially blocked these negotiations, it openly opposes Ukraine's quick admission to the Union, reserving the right to block the entire process at any point.