Major Cities Suffer Massive Aerial Attack; Comes Days After Orban Visit

Ukraine has suffered major aerial attacks in recent hours, at least 20 civilians killed across the country. The capital, Kyiv, was hit with a daytime air raid, a rarity at this stage of the conflict. The Okhmadyt children's hospital in Kyiv has been hit according to the city's mayor, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, currently in Poland, claiming that at least 40 Russian missiles were fired at targets across the country.

• The timing of the strikes is conspicuous, coming just days after Hungarian PM Viktor Orban visited Kyiv, then controversially Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin. Orban carried an increased political focus at present, given that Hungary holds the chair of the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in H224.
• Orban's visit was heavily criticised by fellow European politicians, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying that "appeasement will not stop Putin", while Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda posed on X "If you truly seek peace, you don't shake hands with a bloody dictator, you put all your efforts to support Ukraine."
• The Hungarian PM has sought to position himself as conduit for talks between not only Moscow and Kyiv, but Brussels and Beijing (Orban is currently in China for talks with President Xi Jinping).
• While there have been some rumblings within certain EU member states that Ukraine should be ushered towards peace talks (in exchange for concessions), today's strikes are likely to see Russia hawks in Brussels call for Orban's overtures to halt.