Europe's 'odd man out' Orban calls for Ukraine ceasefire to speed up peace talks

Viktor Orban is in Kiev today for talks with the Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky. The Hungarian Prime Minister is Vladimir Putin's closest ally in the EU, and this is his first visit to Ukraine since Russia's full scale invasion began over two years ago. Orbin is an outspoken critic of Western military aid to Ukraine, but his visit also comes one day after Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union Council. Ukraine, of course, is also in the process of asking to join the European Union. We're going to break this all down now with Kathy Van Gorgisdani, who joins me on the set. Kathy Van, first of all, what can, what came out of this meeting? I mean, there's so many. There's such a big back story going into this meeting. What came out of it? Well, it seems that some switch has been turned on when it comes to Viktor Orban because some of the comments that he made after their meeting are pretty positive. When you think about not only the personal relationship and pretty tense relationship between the two men, but also the positioning of Hungary within the European Union, As you're reminded, that was very much opposed to Western help to Ukraine, to sanctions, to Russia. And some of his comments said, for example, that they were trying to overcome previous disagreements and focus on the future, that the Hungarian EU presidency would be at Ukraine's disposal, even saying that he valued Zelensky's peace initiatives. Of course, there's still remain a lot of key disagreements. For example, the fact that Orban did say that they had discussed these potential peace plans and that he urged Vladimir Zelensky to consider a ceasefire before starting negotiations with the Russians, which is pretty much a non starter, at least so far for the Ukrainians. They don't want to talk about any type of ceasefire until some of the elements of a deal are set in stone. And then Zelensky himself also spinning a pretty positive light on the these talks, saying that discussions could serve as the basis for future bilateral agreements between Ukraine and Hungary. And so if you look back just a couple of weeks ago, if you will, these two countries were very much at odds. You saw a Viktor Orban within the EU for months blocking accession talks for the Ukrainian for weeks, blocking a new package of aid. And right now, at least in words, it looks like there is at least an opening. I mean, all of this is so surprising, starting just with the presence of Viktor Orban in Ukraine for the first time since the war started. Absolutely. And that is very much to be noted because while he never went to Ukraine since the start of the war, he did meet with Vladimir Putin several times. And so his allegiances, if you will, were pretty clear. But the fact that Hungary has just taken over the EU presidency as seems to be one of the reasons for this trip and for possibly his new positioning, because he is seen as the odd man out in the European Union. And the fact is that he is in a way isolated within the European Union. And he did say that as the leadership started for Hungary, that he would be an honest broker within the European Union. And so maybe this is a gesture of open mindedness when it comes to Ukraine, sort of cast himself as someone, a partner within the European Union that can be depended on. The question is what is happening behind the scenes, whether it's in Ukraine or within the European Union that has pushed Viktor Orban to sort of make that turn, not AU turn, but a little bit of a pivot when it comes to Ukraine and maybe wanting to not be the sort of pariah might be a strong word. But this odd man out within the European Union. And the question is, does this show the start of a different type of leadership for the for Hungary within the European Union? Or is this just for show to kick things off and get a little bit of goodwill from the Europeans as they start off the six months presidency?