Top Ukrainian, Hungarian officials meet amid tense relations

ISTANBUL

Top officials from Ukraine and Hungary held a meeting in the city of Uzhhorod on Monday amid tense relations between the two countries.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto arrived in the city located in Ukraine’s western Zakarpattia region, where he met with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and Andriy Yermak, the head of the country’s presidential office.

Following the meeting that lasted more than six hours, Kuleba said during a joint press conference that Ukraine agreed with Hungary on the creation of a joint special commission on issues related to the Hungarian minority living in Zakarpattia.

Meanwhile, commenting on whether a specific date was agreed upon for a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Yermak said the subject wasn’t discussed but that both sides are interested in holding it “as soon as possible.”

“As both Peter (Szijjarto) and Dmytro (Kuleba) said, we are definitely united in the fact that we will not even give anyone the opportunity to think that the neighboring states may not be in good neighborly relations,” Yermak added.

For his part, Szijjarto said that he arrived in Ukraine to re-establish good neighborly relations, expressing they have a long way to go in order to achieve this, but that the Hungarian side is ready to work in this regard.

The Hungarian foreign minister said that the parties discussed difficult issues, arguing that laws have been passed in Ukraine since 2017 to reduce the rights of the Hungarian minority in the country.

“We ask that the Hungarian minority be given back all the rights it had before 2015. We are not asking for anything else," he said.

He went on to deny that the topic of EU funding of €50 billion ($55 billion) for Ukraine was discussed during the meeting, saying this is "not a bilateral issue" and that this will be discussed in Brussels.