We made the most out of the meeting with Hungarian foreign minister – Ukrainian foreign minister

Tuesday, 30 January 2024

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba summed up the results of the meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó and Andrii Yermak, the head of the Office of the Ukrainian President, in Zakarpattia Oblast. 

Kuleba recalled in an interview with Ukrinform that before the meeting, the last time he met with Péter Szijjártó was in 2022.

"Therefore, this meeting was very relevant and, of course, useful. I believe that we made the most out of it today. Firstly, Péter didn't say anything bad," the Ukrainian foreign minister said. 

Kuleba said that he and Szijjártó discussed "concerns about each other's intentions".

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"We spoke frankly about concerns about each other's intentions. We explained everything to each other. Hungarians have a distrust of us; we have a distrust of them – due to various circumstances, this is understandable. And the fact that we have discussed all this today, the three of us, I believe this is very important," the foreign minister said.

He added that the talks mainly touched on three topics: the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, the war and the logic of the actions of Vladimir Putin, and the meeting of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Kuleba noted that Szijjártó also explained "why Hungarians hold meetings with Russians and how they see the path to peace".

The Ukrainian foreign minister said at a press conference following the talks with Szijjártó that they were frank but constructive.

In particular, he said that the Ukrainian side is determined to finally resolve the dispute with Hungary regarding the rights of national minorities and a special commission under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will present a "concrete understanding" in 10 days on this issue.

In turn, Szijjártó said that Budapest wants the rights of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia in place until 2015 to be returned.

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