Ukraine’s foreign minister comments on Ukraine-Hungarian relations since meeting with Hungarian counterpart

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said that since his January meeting in Uzhhorod, western Ukraine, with Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, Ukraine has continued its dialogue with Hungary on the issues that are straining the countries’ bilateral relations.

Source: Dmytro Kuleba during an online briefing with journalists from over 160 media outlets from 65 countries, as reported by European Pravda

Details: “At this moment in time, I have no meetings scheduled with Péter [Szijjártó], but we maintain contact, we’ve known each other for a while, we’ve both done a lot to normalise Ukrainian-Hungarian relations,” Kuleba said when asked about a possible meeting with his Hungarian counterpart.

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He mentioned the meeting he had with Szijjártó in Uzhhorod in late January.

“We launched a bilateral track to resolve the most problematic issues in our relations. The conversation is ongoing. Péter is representing Hungary, and Andrii Yermak, Head of the President’s Office, and I are representing Ukraine.

Our position is straightforward: we want to resolve bilateral issues on a bilateral basis. We are dedicated to this goal and we are moving forward,” Kuleba said.

Kuleba also said he hopes that Hungary will not block EU and NATO decisions related to Ukraine because “we have given assurances that we want to address any issues on a bilateral basis, and we’re working on that”.

Background: 

• On 29 January, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Head of the President’s Office Andrii Yermak and Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó launched negotiations seeking to normalise Ukrainian-Hungarian relations.
• Following that initial meeting, Yermak said that Ukraine and Hungary both want to organise a meeting “at the highest level“. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have not met officially since Zelenskyy was elected president.
• In early March, Szijjártó said that a meeting between Orbán and Zelenskyy will not take place any time soon.

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