Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is to meet with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday as part of his self-styled Ukraine "peace mission", which has already seen him visit Donald Trump and call Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Orban, the closest political partner of both Trump and Putin in the European Union, has repeatedly called for peace talks and refused to send military aid to Ukraine since Russia's invasion in 2022.
The nationalist leader is slated to meet Erdogan to discuss the "Ukraine and Middle East conflicts", government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs posted on X.
Turkey, which enjoys friendly ties with its two Black Sea neighbours, has supplied Ukraine with drones but shied away from Western sanctions on Moscow despite being a member of NATO.
After a call with Putin on Wednesday, Orban claimed that Kyiv had "rejected" a proposed Christmas ceasefire and prisoner exchange, a claim the Ukrainian government denied.
"As always, the Hungarian side did not discuss anything with Ukraine. As always, the Hungarian side did not warn about its contacts with Moscow," Ukraine presidential aide Dmytro Lytvyn said in a statement, contradicting Orban's earlier claim.
Orban had previously infuriated fellow EU leaders in July by conducting breakaway diplomacy with Russia as part of what he described as a "peace mission" in Ukraine, just days after taking over the bloc's rotating six-month presidency.
His trips to explore a path to ending the war also took him to Kyiv and Beijing, as well as two trips to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida earlier this year.
After months of pause, Orban revived his "peace mission" by visiting Pope Francis at the Vatican last week, and Trump in Florida again on Monday.