Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is in Moscow for a bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin, without the approval of the Council of the European Union, said Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy. While the war in Ukraine continues on the front lines, this visit comes at a time when Hungary has just taken over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, on July 1, 2024.
Key information to remember
⇒ Viktor Orban travels to Moscow without “EU mandate”
⇒ Ukraine received the third Patriot anti-aircraft system donated by Germany
⇒ British legislative elections: Zelensky congratulates Keir Starmer on his victory
EU warns against temptation of ‘appeasement’
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday denounced Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s visit to Moscow, castigating the temptation of “appeasement” which “will not stop” Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The temptation of “appeasement will not stop Putin. Only unity and determination will open the way to a complete, just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” she reacted on X. Viktor Orban, whose country has held the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU since July 1, “has not received any mandate” from the Twenty-Seven, insisted Josep Borrell, head of EU diplomacy.
EU solidarity with Ukraine will not weaken
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has vowed that the European Union’s support for Ukraine will not waver despite Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s controversial trip to Moscow on Friday.
Viktor Orban is not representing the EU on this visit, Olaf Scholz told reporters, stressing that the “clear message from the Union is that Ukraine can count on our solidarity.” Vladimir Putin “should not expect that solidarity and support will decrease, whether because of budgetary problems in some countries or because the political will may not be the same everywhere,” he added.
Ukraine receives third Patriot anti-aircraft system donated by Germany
Ukraine has received the third Patriot air defense system promised by Germany in April to help the country cope with Russian bombing, the German embassy in kyiv announced on Friday.
“Germany’s third Patriot air defense system has already arrived in Ukraine. It will strengthen the protection of the country’s population and infrastructure,” Martin Jaeger, the German ambassador to kyiv, said on his X account.
Moscow claims to have destroyed 50 Ukrainian drones in Russia and the occupied zone
The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday it had neutralized 50 Ukrainian drones in Russia’s Rostov and Krasnodar regions, as well as in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow says it has annexed.
“During the night, when the Kiev regime tried to carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation,” air defense systems destroyed 14 drones in the Krasnodar Territory, 26 in the Zaporizhzhia Region and ten in the Rostov Region, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Telegram. Although Russia claims to have annexed the Zaporizhzhia Region in southern Ukraine, the Russian military does not fully control it.
Child killed in southwestern Russia
A child was killed and five people injured in a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s southwestern Krasnodar region, the region’s governor Veniamine Kondratiev said on Friday. The Russian Defense Ministry said that a total of 14 drones were shot down over the region overnight, and 10 more over Rostov.
Ukraine claims drone attack on Russian factory
Ukraine claimed responsibility for a drone attack on a gunpowder and munitions factory in the western Russian region of Tambov, about 350 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, on Thursday. A source in the Ukrainian defence ministry told AFP that a “kamikaze drone” had struck the site, part of Russia’s “military-industrial complex” in the city of Kotovsk.
According to the same source, this site produces ammunition and powder for small arms and has already been targeted by Ukrainian drones in January 2024 and November 2023.
Volodymyr Zelensky congratulates Keir Starmer on his victory
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday congratulated Keir Starmer on Labour’s victory in the British general election, saying the two countries would be allies “through thick and thin.”
“Ukraine and the United Kingdom have been and will continue to be reliable allies through thick and thin,” President Volodymyr Zelensky explained on his X account, while saying he was “grateful to my good friend Rishi Sunak.”