BUDAPEST/MOSCOW/ WASHINGTON - Hungary has proposed a truce between Russia and Ukraine, according to Minister of the Prime Minister's Office Gergely Gulyas on Thursday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been pursuing this objective in talks with other leaders, and has made every effort to ensure that at least during Christmas, there will be "an initial truce and ceasefire," according to Gulyas.

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"At the end of Hungary's EU presidency, we made further efforts for peace ... We did everything we could," Orban wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday evening.

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said communication channels remain open "in all directions," adding that they provide hope for the possibility of peace and peace negotiations in the future.

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Separately, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to exchange parcels for prisoners of war (POWs) for the New Year's Eve, TASS reported Thursday citing Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova.

"We have agreed with the Ukrainian ombudsman to send parcels with notes, letters from home, children's drawings, and other items, by New Year's Eve," she said.

Moskalkova noted that the exchange may take place on the Russian-Belarusian border in December, and thanked Belarus for its mediation and humanitarian efforts.

Additional military assistance

Also on Thursday, the administration of US President Joe Biden announced that it will send Ukraine another tranche of weapons worth $500 million.

According to a statement from the US Department of Defense, the latest military assistance to Ukraine is the 72nd time Biden has used his executive authority to approve the fund since August 2021.

Weapons in the latest tranche included air defense capabilities, munitions for rocket systems and artillery, and anti-tank weapons, among others.

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Earlier in the day, John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the US National Security Council, told a daily press briefing at the White House that the Biden administration, with just weeks remaining in office, will "continue to provide additional packages right up until the end of this administration."

President-elect Donald Trump, who will take over the White House on Jan 20, said in an interview aired on NBC News on Sunday that Ukraine "probably" should prepare for reduced American aid when his administration is sworn into office.

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Trump said he considered it unfair that the United States spent more than triple the amount of money that European nations spent on supporting Ukraine.

"Why isn't Europe in for the same as us?" Trump said. "The one thing that should happen is that Europe should come in for -- they should equalize."