Zelenskyy ’tensely but culturally’ refused phone call with Orban, - Szijjarto
The Ukrainian side rejected Hungary's proposal for a telephone conversation between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Viktor Orban.
This was stated by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to VEOL, Censor.NET reports citing RBC-Ukraine.
Szijjarto reiterated the Hungarian proposal for a "ceasefire and massive exchange of prisoners" that Budapest wanted to offer Ukraine and Russia on the occasion of Christmas.
According to the Hungarian minister, after Orban's conversation with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, he asked Foreign Minister Andrei Sibiga and Presidential Office Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak to organize a phone call between Orban and Zelenskyy.
Szijjártó claims that Ukraine allegedly refused the call in a "rather unprecedented gesture for diplomacy" and "somewhat tensely, though culturally" refused the call.
There is a proposal on the table that has not been seen in the last thousand days, and it is not up to Hungary to decide whether it will be considered and approved by both sides. One side has considered it and finds it acceptable, but the other side has taken an unacceptable position," Szijjarto said.
Orban's call to Putin
Earlier it was reported that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, had a phone conversation with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he had offered Ukraine and Russia a Christmas truce and a large-scale prisoner exchange.
Zelenskyy's adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, said that the Hungarian side had not discussed anything of the sort with Ukraine.
The Kremlin said that Russia, in response to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban 's initiative for a "Christmas truce " and prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, had allegedly passed its proposals to Budapest, but "Kyiv rejected the idea."
