‘More Surprise Meetings Shortly’ – Ukraine at War Update for July 9

On a day when Ukrainians mourned the loss of toddlers and dozens of other civilians after a Russian air strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv and elsewhere across the country, a letter surfaced in Brussels from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to European Council President Charles Michel and EU leaders, reporting on his visit to Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in which he mostly plagiarized Russian propaganda about “peace for Ukraine.”

Orbán, who visited Moscow on Friday, wrote in his communiqué that Putin’s view of the frontline situation “differs significantly from President Zelensky’s understanding.”

“Putin did not mention Russian losses in any way. With regard to Ukrainian losses, the Russian side estimates the monthly losses of Ukrainian forces at 40,000-50,000 soldiers, which have increased even more in recent weeks. So he was surprised that the Ukrainian president rejected the proposal for a temporary ceasefire,” the Hungarian right-wing populist leader wrote.

Body counts are notoriously difficult to ascertain, but the United States estimates that about 350,000 Russian soldiers have died since the beginning of Moscow’s invasion, (Kyiv official sources and UK estimates put the figure closer to a half-million troops), and about 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed in action in total.

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The United Nations estimates that more than 11,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict.

The Hungarian prime minister added that Russia – according to Putin – is only prepared to agree to the conditions it set during the talks in Istanbul in April 2022, “especially the fifth paragraph of the document, which defines the international security guarantees that should be provided to Ukraine.” This refers to the veto for the so-called security guarantors for Ukraine in case of the use of force against it, and Russia wanted to see itself among these guarantors, Ukrainska Pravda clarified.

Having become a pariah in Brussels and perhaps the only EU leader welcomed past the gates in Red Square, Orbán said Moscow is prepared to “exchange views” on the so-called peace proposal put forward by China and Brazil, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

This “proposal” envisages “peace talks” between Ukraine and Russia and doesn’t mention the need to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

“Time is a crucial factor in light of the intensification of hostilities and the rapid increase in casualties. Unless we stop this process, we will see more dramatic losses and military developments on the front line in the next two months than ever before,” Orbán wrote.

Orbán said he promised “more surprise meetings [shortly].” 

Despite calls for retirement, Biden defiantly presses on with presidential campaign

As calls grew within his own party for 81-year-old US President Joe Biden to step down after his abysmal performance in last month’s televised debate against anti-Ukraine candidate Donald Trump. Biden has appeared unmoved and welcomed all challengers in a phone interview with the MSNBC network on Monday.

“Any of these guys that don’t think I should run, run against me. Announce for president, challenge me at the convention,” he said. The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.

Earlier in the day, in a letter to Congress at the start of a critical week that includes a NATO summit in Washington, Biden wrote: “I am firmly committed to staying in the race... It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party and defeat Donald Trump,” he said. “It’s time for it to end.”

Biden, who had served in the US Senate since his 1972 election until he became Vice President under Barack Obama in 2009, and before being elected president himself in November 2020, came under fire after his debate performance on June 27 of this year, when he seemed largely incoherent and appeared to need help exiting the stage, by his wife, Jill. He said later that he would not be doing public events after 8 p.m.

In the Monday interview with the program “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough on MSNBC, the other Joe, President Biden, said: “Well look — Democrats — Joe, let me say it this way, the reason I’ve been on the road so much, all over the country, while Trump is riding around in a golf cart, filling out his golf cart before he even hits the ball — but anyway, he hasn’t been anywhere in 10 days, I’ve been all over the country, No. 1,” he said.

He continued: “And I’ve gone over the country for several reasons, one, to make sure my instinct was right about the party still wanting me to be the nominee. And all the data, all the data shows that the average Democrat out there who voted, 14 million of them who’ve voted for me, still want me to be the nominee, No. 1.”

Xi meets with Orbán and says world powers should help Russia find a settlement

After his Moscow visit, Orbán met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where the latter told the former, a Russian ally and EU member, that world powers should help Russia and Ukraine start negotiations.

Orbán, whose country is a NATO member, visited China a day before NATO is due to hold a summit in Washington to mark its 75th anniversary. The Hungarian leader’s “surprise” visit to Moscow earlier did not earn him much praise within the Alliance.

At a briefing, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Orbán’s trip to the two capitals “certainly doesn’t seem to be productive in terms of trying to get things done in Ukraine.”

AFP noted that China “has refused to condemn Russia's invasion and last year released a paper calling for a ‘political settlement’ to the conflict, which Western countries said could enable Russia to retain much of the territory it has seized in Ukraine.”

Although Hungary took over the EU’s rotating presidency at the start of July, the bloc’s foreign minister Josep Borrell said Orbán “has not received any mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow.”