Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on July 2, and pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a ceasefire, which was rejected.

“The rules of international diplomacy are slow and complex. I asked the president to consider whether it would be possible to reverse the order and to speed up the peace negotiations with a swift ceasefire," Orban said, according to his press release. "A ceasefire tied to a time limit which creates an opportunity for speeding up the peace talks."

Zelenskiy made no public comment on Orban’s suggestion, but has previous said that he believes any pause in the hostilities would only be used by the Kremlin to regroup and rearm before resuming hostilities.

“The war in which you are now living has a very strong impact on the security of Europe,” Orban said, adding that he did not insist on the call for a ceasefire.

Orban’s trip marked his first visit to Ukraine since the onset of the war, for talks with Zelenskiy that included a discussion on the rights of ethnic Hungarians living in the west of Ukraine.

Orban, a vocal critic of Western military and financial aid to Ukraine, arrived in Kyiv a day after Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the EU Council. Hungary's tenure in this role has sparked controversy due to the country’s frequent clashes with Brussels over domestic rule-of-law issues and its foreign policy.

There is a fear that at the helm of the European Council, Hungary could slow down EU accession talks with Ukraine, but according to diplomats Orban's room for manoeuvre will be limited. The decision to give Ukraine candidate status was brought forward by the outgoing Belgian presidency and the next aid package has also been cleared as EU members feared that Budapest, which has obstructed the disbursement of EU funds to help arm Ukraine, could have blocked Kyiv’s accession talks.

Budapest has consistently opposed Ukraine's aspirations to join Nato and the EU, refused to send arms to Ukraine and obstructed EU aid, resisted sanctions on Russia, consistently called for peace talks, and maintained close relations with Moscow throughout the war. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has visited Russia at least five times since the war began, including a recent trip to the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. On the same day that Orban was in Kyiv, Szijjártó held a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov  where they promised to maintain mutually beneficial dialogue.

Despite this stance, Hungary announced last month that it would not block Nato decisions on supporting Ukraine, provided Budapest was not directly involved in the aid. Orban also recently endorsed Mark Rutte to become the next head of Nato, while assuring that Hungary’s forces and financial resources would not be committed to supporting Ukraine.

Relations between Ukraine and Hungary have also been strained by what Budapest argues are discriminatory laws against ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine.

Sources in Budapest told the Guardian that the visit was confirmed after negotiations on the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority living in Ukraine.

Language law changes have prevented schools in the region from teaching in Hungarian that  has been a bone of contention between Budapest and Kyiv.

"It was a precondition for the meeting that the issue of nationality rights was resolved," reported The Guardian, citing a source. "In recent weeks, an agreement has been reached. They will be able to announce this as a success." Budapest has repeatedly accused Kyiv of discriminating against the Hungarian ethnic minority in southwestern Ukraine, an accusation that Ukrainian leadership denies. Ukraine says it has addressed all Hungarian concerns about the language rights of ethnic Hungarians.

In a gesture, Orban announced the Hungarian government will fund a Ukrainian-language school in Budapest, “It is important for us that Ukrainians feel at home in Hungary,” Orban said.