US calls off Kiev press conference after Trump envoy meets Zelensky

Kiev [Ukraine] / Brussels [Belgium], February 21: The United States called off a press conference scheduled for Thursday with Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian media reported.
Zelensky's spokesman, Serhiy Nykyforov, said the press event, which was set to follow a meeting between the two officials in Kiev, had been called off at the request of the US side, local media reported.
The spokesman did not give a reason. Photographers had been given access before the meeting started.
The announcement comes one day after Trump had called Zelensky a "dictator" and the two leaders appeared to fall out dramatically in public.
Zelensky said he had a "good discussion" with Kellogg.
Zelensky said Kiev is ready for "a strong, effective investment and security arrangement with the president of the United States". Kellogg, a retired US lieutenant general, is in Ukraine for several days for talks, aimed at assessing the military situation, with political and military leaders there.
Meanwhile, Hungary is opposed to a new European Union package of support for Ukraine amounting to €20 billion ($21 billion), Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto posted on X on Thursday.
The initiative by EU foreign policy head Kaja Kallas was aimed at reinforcing Kiev's position in talks, instead of pushing for peace, he said. "We will not support spending European taxpayers' money to prolong the war," Szijjarto posted.
Hungary would also not support extending EU sanctions on Russian and Belarusian individuals, he said.
The EU's foreign service earlier presented a proposal for additional military assistance to Ukraine to the amount of just ?6 billion.
According to information received by DPA, the money is to be used for supplying 1.5 million artillery rounds for €3.5 billion, a further €500 million for air defence systems and €2 billion for equipping and training two Ukrainian brigades.
The proposal is intended for discussion at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, although it remained unclear which member states would support it and whether it could be implemented. Funding is also a problem in the light of EU rules in the event that individual states are opposed.
It remained unclear in Brussels why Szijjarto referred to a sum of €20 billion, when the envisaged support came to €6 billion.
Szijjarto explained Hungary's position by saying that the election of US President Donald Trump had shifted global politics towards peace.
"We are closer than ever to a solution, as direct US-Russia talks have revived hope for peace," he said. According to a Hungarian government spokesman, Szijjarto is in Washington for talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Source: Qatar Tribune