Ukraine updates: Orban visits Kyiv for first time since war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has congratulated outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on his appointment as NATO's secretary-general.

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said he had spoken to Rutte in a telephone call and thanked him for the military, political, and humanitarian support the Netherlands had provided to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy made his comments as Dutch King Willem-Alexander swore in former spy chief Dick Schoof as new prime minister Tuesday, at the head of a right-wing coalition Cabinet.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is holding talks with US opposite number Lloyd Austin in Washington to talk about more military cooperation between the two countries.

"Secretary Austin and Minister Umerov will discuss bilateral defense cooperation, regional security issues, and ways to strengthen the defense partnership between the United States and Ukraine," Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a press briefing.

The talks follow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's reassertion of his plea to allies for more weapons. That came after a Russian air strike in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region killed seven people.

The US is the biggest individual provider of military help to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, providing the country with more than $50 billion in military aid since 2022.

Russia says it has destroyed five Ukrainian SU-27 fighter jets and damaged two more at Ukraine's Myrhorod airfield in the central Poltava region.

Russia's Defense Ministry published footage of the attack showing smoke and flames rising from an airfield. It did not say when the attack occurred but specified that it was carried out using Iskander-M missiles.

"As a result of the Russian strike, five active SU-27 multi-purpose fighters were destroyed and two were damaged," the Russian ministry said.

Russia is particularly keen to target Ukrainian airfields just as Kyiv readies for the arrival of the first US-designed F-16s, which Moscow has promised it will destroy.

Ukraine said the airfield had been struck but that the Russian claim had been exaggerated, although it did not detail exactly what had been damaged.

"There was an attack. There are some losses, but not the ones the enemy claims, after all, they have always done this since the beginning of the invasion," Ukrainian air force official Yuriy Ihnat wrote in a statement.

The prime minister of Hungary is visiting Ukraine for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Viktor Orban arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday morning for planned discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It is understood that Orban and Zelenskyy will discuss opportunities for creating peace, as well as Hungarian-Ukrainian bilateral relations. 

Orban has "arrived in Kyiv for discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy," his press secretary Bertalan Havasi said. 

The only EU leader to have maintained ties with Russia since the 2022 invasion, Orban is said to have warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Hungarian prime minister has publicly criticized Europe's financial and military aid for Kyiv and temporarily blocked a 50-billion euro aid package for weeks.

Orban met Putin in October 2023 at a regional summit in Beijing, making him the first EU leader to do so since the war in Ukraine began.

In power since 2010, the nationalist leader has also condemned Brussels' efforts to open formal European Union membership talks with Kyiv. However, he abstained rather than vetoed it. 

rc/fb (AFP, Reuters)