with president zelensky, he called for some strange form of segmented ceasefire, but it wasn't detailed and i'm not aware of any such document that elaborates on this idea of ​​a segmented ceasefire. when he went to moscow, he didn't even get to say a word, because putin said almost immediately that russia was not ready to accept any external peace plan. and that the war must end in accordance with the russian position, and this is the ultimatum that russia announced just one day before the peace summit regarding ukraine and switzerland. the same ultimatum, which you know very well, ukraine must completely abandon the donetsk, luhansk, zaporizhia and kherson regions and crimea.

the ukrainian army must completely withdraw its troops from these regions. ukraine should forget about the intention to join nato and so on. so basically, putin didn't even let orbán explain his own ideas, instead he issued the usual russian ultimatums. when orbán went to beijing, he did a third praised the chinese peace plan, the same chinese peace plan, or plan the settlement that china offered on... the first anniversary of the war. so, in kyiv, moscow and beijing, orbán essentially voiced three different plans, so i don't see that he has his own plan, it's the absence of a plan. as for the lack of a mandate, nobody asked hungary to mediate in this war. nobody asked hungary to do anything in the war. in order to be successful in mediation efforts. you need to have a certain

mandate for this. this leads to the third point: lack of trust. currently, hungary does not have the confidence within the eu and nato necessary for any mediation efforts. relations between hungary and ukraine have long been strained. so, if ukraine were to ask any country to become a mediator, it would most likely not be hungary. is not it? that 's putting it mildly. and if we talk about russia, from their point of view, hungary still remains primarily an eu and nato country, a member of the two alliances. and perceived by moscow as hostile, so it would be highly unusual if russia decided to trust orbán. yes, orbán is a useful tool for moscow, and hungarian foreign policy for russian diplomacy, but this does not mean at all that there is trust between them. so even the three basic requirements necessary for any kind of peace mediation, mandate, trust and plan, are all missing. so you're not the only one who hasn't found his position, what exactly is going on? there is no such thing as orbán's plan.

will continue to provide humanitarian aid orbán always says that the hungarian government to ukraine, but not weapons, because this could bring the war closer to the hungarian borders, is he really afraid of this? as far as i know, not anymore. in the first days, or in the first weeks of full-scale war, when it was not yet clear whether ukraine would be able to withstand and how many territories the russians actually occupy, maybe so. but after ukraine won near kiev, after ukraine managed to push the russians out of mykolaiv oblast, then to liberate part of kherson oblast, then to liberate kharkiv oblast, and after the front...

basically stabilized in october november 22 , since then no one could have thought that the russian army would ever come much closer to hungary. it's not something anyone would seriously fear from hungarian side i mean, you can think or say a lot of bad things about hungarian diplomacy or foreign policy, but the people who deal with it are professionals. at a certain level, hungary exchanges information with the eu and nato, so budapest has data to correctly assess the situation. therefore, the argument, or a kind of argument, that budapest does not give weapons because these weapons will bring the front line closer to hungary, does not make sense. it's more like an excuse. i thought so too.

let's talk a little more about the relationship between hungary and the european union. the biggest question i have. arises, why prime minister orbán quarrels so intensively with the leadership of the eu, what does he want to achieve by this? in hungary, there are problems related to the rule of law, because of this , several billion euros of eu financial support for hungary have been frozen, so budapest does not have access to them. in my assessment, hungary's interest lies in normalizing relations with the european union, solving problems related to the rule of law and at the same time ensuring that blocked eu funds

began to arrive in hungary. this is what the new polish government immediately did, after which the european commission immediately reacted and... hungary obviously follows a different approach, the highly confrontational policy pursued by orbán seems to serve almost exclusively domestic political interests. in the area of ​​the rule of law, the european union requires hungary to destroy some key institutions. components of the orbán regime, control over mass media, suppression of civil society, influence on the judicial system and some other things. without these changes, hungary will not have access to frozen eu assets. viktor orbán

needs to choose between the security interests of his regime and the financial interests of the country, because they are in conflict with each other. as in every authoritarian system, he chooses the security interests of his own regime, because if orbán decides to comply with the eu's demands, it will mean that he himself will have to deconstruct the key elements of the regime that guarantee his own power. it is very unlikely that he will go for it. so instead he chooses open confrontation and is trying to create a situation where in domestic politics for a... domestic audience, he can try to present the whole story so that hungary is not getting eu money because of the eu's fault, because the eu hates hungary, because the eu is discriminating against hungary, for example, because that hungary pursues a certain peace policy that is contrary to the interests of the eu. so,

this is mostly an internal political game. there 's also an element of not about... and when they no longer expect to get that money back, they can afford to continue the confrontation because they no longer have what to lose i am quite pessimistic .

the hungarian minority in ukraine, in the zakarpattia region, especially in the berehiv district, there are quite a lot of ethnic hungarians living there, and prime minister orbán always says that he is going to protect this minority and will do everything possible for this. what can he do to protect the minority and is he just saying this to push his political agenda.

sovereignty of ukraine. dozens of them have already died. the exact number is classified, but it is quite large. so there are ethnic hungarians who are actively fighting for ukraine, if hungary really cared about the fate of the hungarian minority in zakarpattia oblast, it would be interested in helping ukraine as much as possible, in order to help the hungarian minority in order to help ukraine win. moreover, imagine the situation that could develop in the first weeks of a full-scale invasion, imagine that ukraine... would then suffer a serious defeat, does anyone

seriously believe that if russia dominated ukraine, if there was a russian puppet government in ukraine, something like yanukovych number two, it would be good for the hungarian ethnic minority. does anyone seriously think that russia would not suppress all ethnic minorities belonging to eu and nato countries. no one will say so, and yet budapest refrained from providing military aid, even more so in conditional issues, educational rights, in what was a key source of disagreement between ukraine and hungary, tensions have existed for 7-8 years on the question of what if , difficult to answer. nevertheless, for several years there were no hungarian and ukrainian sides

noticeably constructive approach. the budapest government has shown no willingness to solve problems. thus, for several years there was a stalemate in bilateral relations, which was also harmful for the ethnic hungarians of the transcarpathian region. the recent meeting between president zelenskyi and prime minister viktor orban in kyiv will change something. this meeting has been planned for years. orbán has been constantly invited by president zelenskyi for many years, and now the two leaders have met in person. we hope it will happen a catalyst for the normalization of bilateral relations. recently, there have been certain gestures, both from the hungarian side and from the ukrainian side. when it comes to technical details about languages, education systems, educational rights, cultural rights and all these things. in the long

term, i am optimistic, also because after this meeting, the head of the zakarpattia region, viktor mykyta , announced that there is a plan to organize a ukrainian-hungarian business forum to discuss hungary's contribution to the recovery of ukraine and hungarian investments. and when the money us. they tend to have a dampening effect on the debate when we talk about economics, when we talk about money, it's always a more rational thing than when we talk about more symbolic political issues. despite the fact that orban's visit to moscow obviously came as a surprise to kyiv, the ukrainian reaction was very restrained, moderate, wise and not escalating at all. this again is some indication that there is a chance for the relationship to improve, despite the fact that several years have been lost. i hope the future will look a little better. and

one more thing: the meeting between zelenskyi and orban was organized literally in 5 days. organizing a meeting of such a high level, in such a short time, is possible only when both parties really want it to take place. in this case, both sides really wanted the meeting to take place, and this is again a good sign that ukraine and hungary are now ready to overcome some difficult issues and move forward. hungary's viktor orbán constantly praises the potential future president of the united states, donald trump, and donald trump speaks well of orbán. two weeks ago , during his visit to the nato summit in washington

, orbán even visited florida and met with donald trump in maralago. how dangerous could this tandem be if donald trump wins the election in november? this expression is a tandem. by calling them a tandem, we're indicating that they're of equal strength, but that's not exactly the case, but okay, let's call them a tandem, what would you call them?

hungary's ambassador to washington, sábolcs takacs , said that budapest had no plan b. he took it pledge to support trump. if trump does not win, hungary does not count on any good relations with the united states. for smaller countries, the usual strategy is to have good relations with both sides. even for a medium-sized, medium-sized country like ukraine, ukrainian diplomacy in washington , led by ambassador oksana markarova, has excellent connections with the democratic camp and several republican politicians. this is a classic strategy of how countries behave to the current presidential race. you

have good relations with both sides, and you delegate very trained professional diplomats as ambassadors, such as... ambassador markarov from the ukrainian side, or ambassador takacs from the hungarian side. however, hungary fully supports the republicans this time, which is very unusual. budapest won't get much if trump wins, don't overestimate hungary's importance to trump. in addition, hungary's close relationship with china will be a problem for the incoming trump administration. i consider it a serious problem, even hungary's close relations with russia will not necessarily be beneficial. so, even if trump wins, even if the hungarian bid wins, i'm not sure that it can bring any strategic benefits to hungary. meanwhile, if a democratic president leaves the race, hungarian-american relations will further deteriorate. of course i

said it would be the last. question, but if you don't mind, i'll ask one more: how strong is viktor orbán's position in hungary, and how long is he going to remain prime minister of that country? at least until 2026, the next parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2026, if mr. orbán is healthy and continues to serve as prime minister, there is no scenario in which he could lose his... power until 2026, which will happen in 2026, well, the parliamentary elections are still a long way off. thank you very much mr. ratz for joining us today and thank you very much for your answers, i really appreciate it. it was andra schratz, a hungarian security analyst,

an expert at the german council on international relations, and a university lecturer corvinus was spoken to. with him on serious questions, in particular about hungary, about its leader viktor orbán, as well as about such sensitive hungarian-ukrainian relations, well, what's next, the conversation was interesting, the answers were interesting, i think you will like it, well, on this is how i say goodbye to you, my name is yuriy fizar, see you soon. pain can become an obstacle. walk up the stairs, not with my knees. for pain in the knees, try dolgit cream. long-acting cream relieves pain, reduces swelling and improves joint mobility. you can go on foot with the long-lasting cream. dolgit is the only one

yellow cream for joint pain. there are discounts until independence day on dekatylene. 15%. traveller, bam and savings. education is the future of every country. what is changing in ukrainian schools, what will the university of tomorrow look like. the country is immersed in the world of educational transformations. we ask experts, listen to teachers, listen to parents and children. from nush to higher school, we explore the labyrinths of educational reforms, read to understand, understand to change. ask for the country at the points of sale of the press. or prepay online there are discounts until independence day on magneb6 10% in pharmacies psyllium bam and oskad. the book women at war is a joint project of the espresso tv channel and a book based on the reports of the presenter of the espresso tv channel khrystyna parubiy. 20 stories, 20 fates, 20 women who defended the country. the book is

dedicated to women who chose the path of fighting the enemy in the ranks of the military. women at war, search in bookstores of ukraine. with the support of the konstantin zhivago charitable foundation. national tebe na mego is a lot of channels, well, a lot. channels, as well as movies, cartoons, series and favorite shows. turn on megogo on various devices without transmission wires and antennas. and all this from uah 49 per month. there are discounts until independence day on essential forte m. 10% in pharmacies plantain, you and save. events events that are happening right now and affect our lives. of course, the news feed reports on them. however, it is not enough to know what is happening, it is necessary to understand. antin borkovskii and invited experts soberly assess the events, analyze them, modeling our

future. every saturday at 13:10 with a repeat at 22:00. zahid studio with anton borkovsky on espresso. vitaly portnikov, khrystyna yatskiv, andriy smoliy and invited experts on the basis. of facts give their assessment and forecast of the development of events, want to understand how our today will affect our tomorrow, watch the saturday political club, every saturday on espresso.

a little more than a year ago , he was expelled from the kyiv-pocharsk lavra. russian peace. let me remind you and emphasize: in the ukrainian capital, in the ukrainian shrine, they prayed for putin and the russian military. now in the lavra, they are already

praying in ukrainian for ukraine and for ukrainian defenders. however, a year later in there are still russian churches in ukraine, and the clashes regarding their ban under the dome of the council are no less active now than a year ago, under the dome of the lavra. with the moscow church in ukraine began in 2022. in november of that year, more than 30 people's deputies from different factions, led by mykola knyazhytskyi , registered draft law 821, but the majority rejected it. in december 2022 , more than 20 deputies of various factions, led by iryna konstantevich, registered another document under the number... 72-62, however, it the servants of the people did not like it, and finally in january 2023, the cabinet of ministers, at the request of the national security council, submitted

its bill 8371. i would like to emphasize that all three initiatives were supported by the specialized humanitarian committee. however, even the mildest of all government draft laws was dragged to the first reading. not six months, then he won 267 votes in favor. on march 5, 2024, the verkhovna rada committee on humanitarian and information policy recommended that the parliament adopt it in the second reading, and here we are at last. july 23, 2024. draft law 8371 on amendments to some laws of ukraine regarding activities in ukraine.

that it is not considered because there are not enough votes in favor, however, the parliamentarians assure that there is support for the initiative even among the people's servants. there are enough votes for this draft law, the only question is to put it on the agenda in order, and since the servants are blocking its putting on the agenda, unfortunately, we cannot consider it. i am sure that if this law is in the hall, then at least 250 deputies will vote for it. besides...

people's deputies could be scared by conditional anathema, they say, they already have threats that they will receive personal western sanctions in case of supporting the initiative. according to the people's deputies, the relevant letter came from an american law firm that acts on behalf of the ukrainian orthodox church. in contrast, others say that the 83-71 vote was completely democratic. the law on the prohibition of the activities of the russian orthodox church. as an organization that poses a threat to the national security of ukraine, this is required by the convention on the protection of human rights, article 9:11, this is required by the constitution of ukraine, article 35-36, where it is directly stated, there is an explanation of the constitutional court, which directly obliges the ukrainian government, the ukrainian authorities, each of us, to protect national security from the interference of enemy organizations, no closure, no there will be, these are court procedures, these

are... however, no matter what the problem was, as soon as the parliament decided not to consider church issues, its work stopped. people's deputies of the faction of the european union... after the conciliation council with the leaders of the factions , the head of the verkhovna rada, ruslan stepanchuk

announced a pause in the meeting. on the sidelines , they say that such a break will probably last until the end of august, and if the document is not brought to the hall, the rostrum will continue to be blocked, and even if the matter starts to move, the process will still be slow, there are 1,200 amendments, at least, which will to confirm the representatives of the former opzhz now, actually the remnants of this structure, and that is why it is such a long process, chairman. the vru later announced that the parliamentarians would not rest, but would work in committees, in particular, on the draft law on the ban ukrainian orthodox church the latter will be put to the vote of the parliament after collecting 240 votes in its support. and at the same time, according to the latest april survey of the kyiv city institute of sociology, ukrainians are more unanimous on the issue of the moscow patriarchate. 63% of reviewers are in

favor of his ban. kateryna galko, yuliya belska, andriy verstyuk, espresso tv channel. greetings, it's news time, kateryna shiropoyas works in eter spressu, in the studio. the bodies of 250 ukrainian defenders who died were returned to their homeland land, this is reported by the coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war. the defenders were located in the luhansk, bakhmut, marin, avdiyiv, kherson and zaporizhzhia directions. bodies were also transferred from mariupol, horlivka and russian morgues. in the future, forensic experts will identify the remains and...