Moscow [Russia] / Kiev [Ukraine], December 12: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have spoken on the phone about the war in Ukraine after a request from the Hungarian side, Kremlin officials said.
Orban declared his willingness to contribute to political and diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the ongoing conflict and said he could use his contacts with Western politicians, Moscow officials said.
Putin said Kiev was pursuing a destructive approach and still ruling out any possibility of a peaceful settlement, the Kremlin said. Orban later posted on his Facebook page that Hungary would use all diplomatic means to bring about a ceasefire. Analysts have commented that this signals the phone call did not produce any tangible results.
Despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Orban maintains close contacts with Moscow. He paid a surprise visit to Putin in July at the beginning of the Hungarian EU Council presidency, earning him criticism from EU colleagues showing solidarity with Kiev.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's military said it had hit an oil depot in western Russia that fuels a key pipeline for Russian military supplies. The military's general staff said on Wednesday the overnight attack had caused a "massive fire" to break out at the facility in the Bryansk region. Footage posted by the Astra Telegram channel, which shares war updates from Russian journalists, appeared to show huge flames towering into the sky near the targeted site. Ukrainian news site Pravda also published an image of the blaze.
Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz acknowledged a production facility in the region had caught fire after a drone attack, but said it had been extinguished. The Soviet-built Druzhba oil pipeline, which pumps oil from the fields in Western Siberia and the Caspian Sea to markets of Europe, runs through the Bryansk region, as does the Baltic Pipeline System which runs to the Baltic Sea.
Meanwhile in Zaporizhzhia, one of the four Ukrainian regions Moscow claimed to annex in 2022 without fully controlling, casualties continued to mount from an attack the day before that hit a medical clinic and office building. At least seven people have been confirmed killed and others are still trapped under the rubble, said Ukraine's State Emergency Service on Wednesday.
Source: Qatar Tribune
