Ukraine ready to open new chapter with Hungary, MFA says
Photo: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha held talks with Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán and announced readiness to open a new chapter in relations between the two countries.
Consultations on the Hungarian minority will begin as early as this week.
What was agreed upon
Sybiha held talks with Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Anita Orbán.
According to him, Ukraine is ready to immediately open a new, mutually beneficial chapter in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations.
The sides agreed to take the following steps:
- Hold a round of consultations at the expert level as early as this week.
- Find practical solutions regarding the Hungarian minority in the Zakarpattia region.
- Cooperate with the new Hungarian government on all issues of the bilateral agenda, including the issue of national minorities.
“Our goal is to ensure European standards and practices,” Sybiha noted.
On European integration
The foreign minister separately touched on the issue of Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
“I touched upon the issue of Ukraine’s EU accession path and reiterated our readiness for the sooner opening of negotiation clusters,” he wrote.
Sybiha also thanked Anita Orbán for the principled and swift reaction of the Hungarian government to the recent Russian strikes on Ukraine.
In addition to bilateral issues, the meeting also discussed the regional, European, and international agenda.
After Russia’s strike on Zakarpattia, Hungary, for the first time since the start of the full-scale war, summoned the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry and demanded an end to the attacks.
Meanwhile, the Hungarian government called the strikes on Zakarpattia unacceptable — especially considering that ethnic Hungarians live there.
Ukraine has already prepared an action plan on national minorities that takes Hungary’s interests into account and complies with the requirements of EU member states.
