Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, November 28, 2025

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: Russia Struggles In Its Spring Offensive as Ukraine Counter-Attacks

Tuesday’s Coverage: Kyiv — 27,407 Foreign Nationals In Russia’s Invasion

UPDATE 1549 GMT:

The Kremlin has blustered that Ukraine must immediate withdraw from its areas in the Donetsk region in the east of the country.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Russia has given Kyiv two months to remove all forces or face additional demands in US-brokered talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:

As for the two months, that’s not the point here. Zelensky must make a decision already today to withdraw Ukrainian troops beyond the administrative borders of [the Donetsk and Luhansk regions].

This has been said repeatedly. And, in theory, Zelensky should have made this decision yesterday. He needs to take responsibility and make this difficult decision.

UPDATE 1538 GMT:

At least four civilians have been murdered and five injured by Russia’s daytime drone attacks on central and western Ukraine.

More than 80 drones were in Ukrainian airspace at 1:43 p.m.

The fatalities were in the Zolotoniskyi district of the Cherkasy region, around 190 km (118 miles) southeast of Kyiv.

In the Poltava region, six people were injured, including three children, when a Russian drone crashed on private property.

Earlier on Wednesday, authorities reported that at least three civilians were murdered and 33 injured by Russian attacks over the 24 hours.

Air defenses intercepted 298 of 339 drones. At least 20 struck 11 locations.

Two people, including a teenager, were slain in the Kherson region in the south and one in the Sumy region in the northeast.

UPDATE 0726 GMT:

In an address to visiting European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said:

UPDATE 0722 GMT:

A Russian military plane has crashed in occupied Crimea peninsula, killing 30 people.

Contact was lost with the Antonov-26 on Tuesday evening during a scheduled flight. The Russian Defense Ministry said seven crew members and 23 passengers died.

An official said the transport plane crashed into a cliff. The Ministry cited a “technical malfunction”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine has criticized the hotline between Hungary’s Orbán Government and the Kremlin.

An international investigation established that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó maintained the hotline with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, giving Moscow highly sensitive information on European Union deliberations.

Leaked audio confirmed that Szijjártó acted on behalf of the Kremlin, including efforts to remove sanctioned Russian oligarchs from EU blacklists and to block an EU sanctions package.

“I am always at your disposal,” he told Lavrov.

The Russian expressed his appreciation for Szijjártó’s “support and your fight for equality in all fields”.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called for an inquiry into the communications.

These are not conversations. This is obsequious reporting to Russian patrons. Disgusting, it is a disgrace, and it really should be subject to investigation.

Szijjártó did not deny the calls with Lavrov as he snapped in a video statement, “It is a huge scandal…that foreign secret services were continuously wiretapping my phone calls and that these foreign secret services have now made these phone calls public one-and-a-half weeks before the Hungarian parliamentary election”.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a long-time ally of Vladimir Putin. Budapest is blocking a €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine, covering military and financial needs through 2027, and the 20th package of sanctions on Russia over its invasion.

The Government is under pressure in the April 12 Parliamentary elections, trailing the opposition Tisza Party by an average of more than 10% in polls.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference alongside visiting EU foreign policy head Kaja Kallas on Tuesday.

Because the €90 billion support package is still blocked, we cannot use the €5 billion planned for protection and recovery to get ready, no matter what this winter will be like.

This is happening because one person in Europe is standing against all of Europe simply to please Moscow.