Orbán decided: "Ignore" PHOTO/VIDEO

Orbán decided: "Ignore" PHOTO/VIDEO

Footage of Zelensky walking towards a group of leaders posing for a photo showed the moment Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refused to applaud th Ukrainian leader.

Previously, Zelensky gave an emotional speech in the European Parliament, after which he received a standing ovation, but the video from the European Council may have attracted more attention.

Namely, while the other European leaders approached Zelensky with a smile, patted him on the shoulder and hugged him, Orbán completely ignored him. The Hungarian Prime Minister can be seen in the video sitting calmly at the conference table a few meters away, engrossed in his papers.

Orbán, who had close ties to Vladimir Putin during his 13-year tenure as prime minister, has not been an active supporter of Ukraine since Putin ordered the invasion last February. At a recent gathering of international conservatives, he described Ukraine as a "wreck of earth", suggesting that it is a war zone that cannot return to peace.

"Ukraine is now Afghanistan. Vladimir Putin will not lose and time is on Russia's side," Orbán said during the round table discussion.

He also repeated the Kremlin's words that the conflict in Ukraine is a proxy war between Russia and the West, a term Kyiv finds offensive.

Some analysts believe that Orbán is not anti-Ukrainian, but that his rhetoric is simply an attempt to play both sides and score political points at home. For years, the prime minister pursued a dual foreign policy: he enjoyed the benefits of membership in the EU and NATO, while developing lucrative relations with Moscow, Beijing and other totalitarian capitals. And when the same Russian government invaded Hungary's neighborhood, Orbán condemned the invasion – but did not completely abandon friendly relations with Russia.

Hungary continues the nuclear power plant expansion project together with Russia's Rosatom. And Hungarian officials continue to travel to Russia to discuss energy deals. The country, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, signed a deal for even more supplies last summer - just as others were looking to cut imports. At the same time that Budapest approved a package of EU sanctions, Orbán tried to relax some provisions. In his own country, he led an extensive campaign against sanctions, blaming Brussels for Hungary's economic problems.

Hungary and Ukraine also have a long, troubled relationship over a dispute over the language rights of Hungarians living in western Ukraine, and those tensions have worsened since the war began.