Russian President Vladimir Putin supports Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's efforts to reach a Christmas truce in Ukraine and a major prisoner-of-war exchange, the Kremlin said yesterday, although Kiev played down the idea.
Orban made the proposals in a telephone conversation with Putin on Wednesday, the Kremlin and Hungary said, without giving further details.
"The Russian side fully supports Orban's efforts aimed at finding a peaceful solution and solving humanitarian issues related to the exchange of prisoners," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) provided the Hungarian embassy with details about a potential exchange of prisoners, Peskov added.
Not long after Orban and Putin's talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the Hungarian leader for undermining the unity of the West and appeared to mock Hungary's peace efforts.
Orban said it was sad that Zelenski apparently rejected the proposals.
US President-elect Donald Trump, a self-proclaimed master dealmaker and author of the 1987 book "Trump: The Art of Negotiating," has promised to end the conflict quickly, but has not detailed how he might do so.
On June 14, Putin laid out the initial conditions for ending the war: Ukraine must abandon its ambitions to join NATO and withdraw troops from four areas of Ukraine that Russia claims and largely controls.
"Russia has never rejected peace negotiations and has repeatedly expressed its readiness to continue them on the basis of the Istanbul Declaration of 2022," said Peskov.
Kiev insists that it also needs security guarantees, specifically membership in NATO, which would prevent Russia from using the truce to prepare a new invasion.
Russia says it will never accept Ukraine joining NATO or NATO troops being deployed on Ukrainian territory.
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