Hungary's leader is in Ukraine. It's the first visit by Russia’s top EU ally since the war began

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — During his first visit to neighboring Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Tuesday that the ongoing war was “the most important issue for Europe.”

Known as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest European Union ally, Orbán's visit was a rare gesture in a tumultuous relationship between the two countries as Budapest has repeatedly broken ranks with the rest of the European Union and leaned toward Moscow.

The Hungarian prime minister has routinely blocked, delayed or watered down EU efforts to extend assistance to Ukraine and to sanction Moscow over its war, frustrating both Zelenskyy and other EU leaders.

Meanwhile, on the war’s front line, Kyiv’s forces are scrambling to hold at bay a Russian push in eastern Ukraine. Delays in the provision of crucial Western military aid left the Ukrainian army at the mercy of the Kremlin’s bigger and better-equipped forces.

In a sign of still frosty relations, Zelenskyy did not publicly acknowledge Orbán’s visit until hours after his arrival, posting on social media platform X that the two had discussed trade, cross-border cooperation, infrastructure and energy.

However, the Ukrainian president’s office released a video showing Zelenskyy thanking Orbán for his visit and welcoming him to the country after shaking hands and then sitting across from each other at a round table with Hungarian, Ukrainian and EU flags in the background.

The two countries have had a tense relationship since the war started with Orbán portraying himself as a champion for peace and calling for an immediate cease-fire and peace talks without expanding on what that would mean for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

This visit comes the day after Hungary took over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, a position that has little real power but can be used to set the tone of the bloc’s agenda. Hungarian officials have indicated that they will act as “honest brokers” in the role despite worries from some EU lawmakers that Hungary’s democratic track record makes it unfit to lead the bloc.

Orbán’s press chief, Bertalan Havasi told Hungarian news agency MTI early Tuesday the meeting would be an opportunity to build peace as Ukraine fights off Russia’s invasion.

During his visit, the Hungarian prime minister told Zelenskyy: “This is war and peace, war between Russia and Ukraine, the invasion of Russia against Ukraine.” He added that the war “is the real issue. My target is to be here to understand how we could be helpful to Ukraine in the forthcoming six months.”

The Hungarian premier, a self-described adherent of “illiberal democracy,” has long been accused by his European partners of dismantling democratic institutions at home and acting as an obstinate spoiler of key EU policy priorities. The bloc has frozen more than $20 billion in funding to Budapest over alleged rule-of-law and corruption violations, and Orbán has conducted numerous anti-EU campaigns depicting it as an overcentralized, repressive organization.

Orbán has also long accused Kyiv of mistreating an ethnic Hungarian minority in Ukraine’s western region of Zakarpattia, a community he has used to justify his refusal to provide weapons to Ukraine or allow their transfer across the two countries’ shared border.

His visit comes as he seeks to recruit members into a new nationalist alliance that he hopes will soon become the largest right-wing group in the European Parliament. On Sunday, Orbán met in Vienna with the leaders of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party and the main Czech opposition party, announcing the formation of the new group, “Patriots for Europe."

The trio would need to attract lawmakers from at least four more EU countries to successfully form a group in Europe's new parliament, which held elections in June. Right-wing nationalist parties across Europe strengthened their position in the elections, but ideological differences over the war in Ukraine and cooperation with Russia have often prevented deeper alliances among some of the parties.

Spike reported from Budapest, Hungary.

In this photo issued by the Hungarian PM's Press Office Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hold a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Zoltan Fischer/Hungarian PM's Press Office/MTI via AP)

In this photo issued by the Hungarian PM's Press Office Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hold a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Zoltan Fischer/Hungarian PM's Press Office/MTI via AP)

In this picture issued by the Hungarian PM's Press Office Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Zoltan Fischer/Hungarian PM's Press Office/MTI via AP)

In this photo issued by the Hungarian PM's Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Zoltan Fischer/Hungarian PM's Press Office/MTI via AP)

In this photo provided by the Hungarian PM's Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Zoltan Fischer/Hungarian PM's Press Office/MTI via AP)

In this photo issued by the Hungarian PM's Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Zoltan Fischer/Hungarian PM's Press Office/MTI via AP)

In this photo issued by the Hungarian PM's Press Office Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hold a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Zoltan Fischer/Hungarian PM's Press Office/MTI via AP)

In this photo, taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, July 1, 2024, Russian soldiers fire from the BM-21 "Grad" self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

In this photo, taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, July 1, 2024, Russian soldiers ride a quad bike and bikes changing their positions at the frontline in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

In this photo, taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, July 1, 2024, Russian soldiers ride a quad bike changing their positions at the frontline in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

In this photo, taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, July 1, 2024, Russian soldiers shoot toward an Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

FILE - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, June 27, 2024. When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on Monday July 1, 2024 many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

Amid blistering summer temperatures, a federal judge ordered Louisiana to take steps to protect the health and safety of incarcerated workers toiling in the fields of a former slave plantation, saying they face “substantial risk of injury or death.” The state immediately appealed the decision.

U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, giving the state department of corrections seven days to provide a plan to improve conditions on the so-called Farm Line at Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. The expansive penitentiary occupies land that once was a plantation.

Jackson called on the state to make changes to policies dealing with heat. He pointed to everything from inadequate shade and breaks from work and a failure to provide workers with sunscreen and other basic protections, including medical checks for those especially vulnerable to high temperatures. However, the judge stopped short of shutting down the farm line altogether when heat indexes reach 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 degrees Celsius) or higher, which was what the plaintiffs had requested.

The order comes amid growing nationwide attention on prison labor, a practice that is firmly rooted in slavery and has evolved over the decades into a multibillion-dollar industry. A two-year Associated Press investigation linked the supply chains of some of the world’s largest and best-known companies – from Cargill and Walmart to Burger King – to Angola and other prison farms, where incarcerated workers are paid pennies an hour or nothing at all.

Last year several men incarcerated at Angola and the advocacy group Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) filed a class-action lawsuit alleging cruel and unusual punishment and forced labor in the prison’s fields. The men, most of whom are Black, said they use hoes and shovels or stoop to pick crops by hand in dangerously hot temperatures as armed guards look on. If they refuse to work or fail to meet quotas, they can be sent to solitary confinement or face other punishment, according to disciplinary guidelines.

As temperatures across the state continue to rise, “dealing with the heat in Louisiana has become a matter of life and death,” Jackson wrote in his 78-page ruling. “Conditions on the Farm Line ‘create a substantial risk of injury or death.’”

Lydia Wright of The Promise of Justice Initiative, an attorney for the plaintiffs, applauded the decision.

“The farm line has caused physical and psychological harm for generations,” she told the AP, adding it is the first time a court has found the practice to be cruel and unusual punishment. “It’s an incredible moment for incarcerated people and their families.”

Ken Pastorick, a spokesman for Louisiana’s Department of Public Safety and Corrections, said the department “strongly disagrees” with the court’s overall ruling and has filed a notice of appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We are still reviewing the ruling in its entirety and reserve the right to comment in more detail at a later time,” he said.

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FILE - Inmates harvest turnips at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., on April 15, 2014 . U.S. District Court Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, July 3, 2024, giving the state department of corrections seven days to provide a plan to improve conditions on the so-called Farm Line at Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - A prison guard rides a horse alongside prisoners as they return from farm work detail at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., on Aug. 18, 2011. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, July 3, 2024, giving the state department of corrections seven days to provide a plan to improve conditions on the so-called Farm Line at Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)