Moscow-friendly Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday urged Kyiv to work for a "quick ceasefire" in Ukraine that could pave the way for talks with Russia to end the more than two-year war.

Orban issued the address while standing next to President Volodymyr Zelensky during a surprise visit to Ukraine, his first sharp criticism of Western support for Kyiv.

"I asked the president to consider whether… a quick ceasefire could speed up the peace talks," Orban told reporters, adding that the proposed ceasefire would be "time-limited."

Ukraine has repeatedly rejected calls for a pause in fighting, which it says would simply give Russia time to regroup for another attack.

Meanwhile, the United States on Tuesday announced $2.3 billion in new security assistance to Ukraine.

Unlike many other European leaders, Orban has not visited Kyiv since the Russian invasion in February 2022, and is widely seen as the most pro-Russian leader in the 27-member bloc.

In October 2023, he met Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Beijing, becoming the first EU leader to do so since the start of the war.

The populist leader, in power since 2010, has regularly criticised Europe's financial and military support for Kyiv, temporarily blocking a 50 billion euro ($53 billion) aid package for several weeks.

And he has openly opposed EU membership talks with Kiev, as well as Brussels' sanctions on Moscow – although Budapest has not used its veto to block these moves.

The visit came a day after Hungary took over the EU presidency, giving the central European state control over the bloc's agenda and priorities for the next six months.

Orban said he would report on his talks with Zelensky to EU prime ministers “so that the necessary European decisions can be taken.”

Zelensky called the timing of the visit symbolic.

“This is a clear sign of our common European priorities, of how important it is to bring a just peace to Ukraine,” he said, calling on European countries to maintain military support.

During the conversation between the two leaders in Kyiv, it was reported that more civilians had died as a result of Russian bombing.

In Nikopol, a city in southern Ukraine, Moscow forces killed two elderly women and wounded nine, the local governor said.

A Russian strike killed one person and wounded seven others in the southern Kherson region, which is partially occupied by Russian troops.

Asked about Orban's visit earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin said it did not expect much from him but called him a "tough" politician who zealously defends his country's interests.

Hours after the Kiev talks, Moscow reported that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had spoken by phone with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto to discuss the "Ukrainian crisis."

Relations between Orban and Zelensky have been cold since the start of the war.

After winning re-election in April 2022, Orban said the Ukrainian leader was an "adversary" he had managed to defeat in the election campaign after Zelensky personally blamed him for his lack of support in the early days of the Russian invasion.

In December, Zelensky sought out the Hungarian leader at the inauguration of Argentine President Javier Miley for what he called a "frank" conversation.

Videos have circulated online showing the couple engaged in a tense dialogue.

They were filmed again having a short, animated conversation last week on the sidelines of the EU Council meeting in Brussels.

Speaking in Kyiv on Tuesday, Orban said he wanted to “see much better relations” between Hungary and Ukraine, adding that he was “trying to leave the discussions of the past behind.”

Hungary has significant influence over Western support for Ukraine, given its membership in both the EU and NATO, giving it the ability to obstruct, delay, weaken or completely block initiatives and funding.

But Orban's call for a ceasefire before meaningful peace talks begin is likely to fail.

Last month, Putin demanded that Ukrainian troops withdraw even more territory in the south and east if they wanted to stop fighting – demands Zelensky dismissed as an "ultimatum" reminiscent of Adolf Hitler.

The Ukrainian leader is also seeking international support for his plan to end the war, which would see Russian troops withdraw completely from the country, including the Crimean peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014, and pay for the destruction caused by the February 2022 invasion.

At a major peace summit in Switzerland last month, Hungary agreed to a document calling for respect for Ukraine's "territorial integrity" in any final peace settlement.