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00:00More from friends but side by side.
00:02Viktor Orban paid his first visit to Ukraine in over a decade
00:06to meet with Vladimir Zelensky.
00:08The Hungarian prime minister has long been a vocal critic of military aid there
00:13and Orban is Vladimir Putin's closest ally among EU leaders.
00:17But in Kyiv, the talk was all about bilateral relations and peace.
00:22I asked President Zelensky to think about whether we could reverse the way things are going
00:27and to speed up peace talks by first having a ceasefire.
00:30A ceasefire connected to a deadline would give a chance to speed up peace talks.
00:34In response, Ukraine's president said any future peace deal must be a just one.
00:39He did say, though, that the talks were constructive.
00:43Overall, the content of our dialogue on all of today's issues could
00:48serve as a basis for a future bilateral document between our countries
00:53and will allow our people to benefit from the blessings of European unity.
01:00Behind the handshakes and moves for improving bilateral accords are tense relations.
01:06Be it over Orban's repeatedly blocking EU aid to Kyiv,
01:09Hungary's staunch objection to Ukraine joining the European Union
01:13or more domestic issues between the neighbours,
01:16like the treatment of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.
01:19The timing of the visit is a significant one.
01:22It comes just a day after Orban took over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union.
01:28While it is largely a symbolic role, it does allow Hungary
01:32to set the tone for the bloc's agenda over the next six months.