Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Administration of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, stated at a press conference on 18 January that Budapest "must aim" to be on good terms with Ukraine, and this possibility "must not be ruled out".

According to Telex, Gulyás commented on the issue of Ukrainian-Hungarian relations as he was talking about Budapest’s position with regard to further blocking of a four-year €50 billion aid package for Ukraine.

"The possibility of an improvement in relations between Hungary and Ukraine cannot be ruled out, and Hungary must pursue good relations with a neighbouring country. We must not lose hope that Hungarian-Ukrainian relations may change," he said.

Gulyás cited Serbia as an example, as well as the Slovak Parliament, which had previously condemned Orbán’s statement, but "now the two countries are on good terms".

In this context, Gulyás also mentioned preparations for a meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Viktor Orbán in which they could discuss "a return to previous conditions for education in Hungarian in Ukraine" and humanitarian aid for Zakarpattia Oblast, "but there are many other topics on which they could share their thoughts".

Hungary and Ukraine had had almost no high-level contact since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but their interaction on various levels has stepped up over the last few weeks.

Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that he would be meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, in Uzhhorod. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Andrii Yermak, Head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, will also attend the meeting on 29 January.