Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made a surprise visit Monday to Beijing, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for a global effort to push Russia and Ukraine toward a “cease-fire” and praised Orban’s diplomatic initiatives. It was a powerful display of how Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are seeking to create a multipolar world order not dominated by the United States.
Even as Xi embraced Orban in the Chinese capital, Russian missiles smashed down in Kyiv, Dnipro and other Ukrainian cities on Monday — killing at least 31 people, including two at a children’s hospital in Kyiv, and highlighting the vicious brutality of Putin’s war.
In response to the missile attack, but also apparently the new diplomatic maneuvers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for global pressure to halt Russia’s aggression. “The whole world must use all its determination to finally put an end to the Russian strikes,” Zelensky posted on Telegram. “Murders are what Putin brings. Only together can we bring true peace and security.”
The Russian Defense Ministry, posting on Telegram, confirmed that it had carried out a major missile attack on Ukraine on Monday but insisted that the targets were “Ukrainian military industry facilities” and “air bases.”
Orban’s visit to China followed trips to Kyiv and Moscow last week, just days after Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. His foray into peacemaking has drawn criticism in the West of his attempt to pressure Kyiv to surrender territory that Moscow has seized by force.
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In Brussels, officials disavowed Orban’s efforts, saying he was not authorized to conduct diplomacy for the E.U. “It should be clear he is only representing his own country,” said an E.U. diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Eric Mamer, a spokesman for the European Commission, emphasized that Orban was flying solo. “He has no mandate on these visits to represent the E.U.,” Mamer said.
But Putin, welcoming Orban in Moscow last week, pointedly invoked Hungary’s E.U. presidency. And in a sign of the new multipolar dimension of geopolitics, the Hungarian prime minister’s visit to Beijing occurred just hours before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Moscow on a state visit, his first since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In a statement before he left New Delhi on Monday, Modi hailed “my friend Vladimir Putin” and “the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia.” After he landed, Russian and Indian media showed Modi, dressed in a bright turquoise vest, arriving at his Moscow hotel and being greeted by Indian dancers and well-wishers waving Indian flags.
Indian purchases of Russian oil, which have surged 20-fold since 2021, have helped Moscow withstand tough Western economic sanctions imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine.