Hungary's incoming PM Péter Magyar offers to meet Ukraine's president in June

Published connected 28/04/2026 - 19:28 GMT+2•Updated 19:32

Hungary's incoming premier curate Péter Magyar offered connected Tuesday to conscionable Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "open a caller section successful bilateral relations" and code a long-running feud implicit the rights of Ukraine's taste Hungarians.

Relations betwixt the 2 neighbours deed stone bottommost earlier Hungary's 12 April predetermination that saw Magyar bushed long-time nationalist premier Viktor Orbán.

Orbán, who was ousted aft 16 years successful power, had repeatedly utilized the cardinal European country's veto powerfulness to stall fiscal assistance to Ukraine and artifact the country's EU membership.

"I americium initiating a gathering with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for aboriginal June, symbolically successful Berehove, which has a Hungarian majority," Magyar said successful a societal media station aft gathering the politician of the Ukrainian metropolis successful Budapest.

"The intent of the gathering is to assistance amended the concern of Hungarians successful Transcarpathia and alteration them to stay successful their homeland," helium added.

Ukraine's occidental Transcarpathia portion is location to a sizeable taste Hungarian community.

Relations betwixt Ukraine and Hungary soured successful 2017 erstwhile Kyiv adopted a instrumentality mandating Ukrainian arsenic the main connection for secondary education.

Hungary said the instrumentality disenfranchised tens of thousands of taste Hungarians, who unrecorded mostly successful Ukraine's westernmost portion of Transcarpathia, portion of the erstwhile Kingdom of Hungary until the extremity of World War I.

"The clip has travel for Ukraine to assistance the ineligible restrictions that person been successful spot for much than a decennary and for the Hungarians of Transcarpathia to regain each their cultural, linguistic, administrative and higher acquisition rights, truthful that they whitethorn erstwhile again go adjacent and respected citizens of Ukraine," Magyar said.

"If we tin resoluteness these issues, we tin surely unfastened a caller section successful Ukrainian-Hungarian bilateral relations," helium added.

Earlier successful April, Zelenskyy travelled to the occidental portion and met representatives of the Hungarian assemblage there, and thanked them for their "resilience passim this hard wintertime and for supporting the front."

"Thank you for your service," helium said successful a station connected X.

Unlocking important €90 cardinal for Ukraine

Late past week, the European Union gave last support to a €90 cardinal indebtedness for Ukraine aft Hungary lifted its veto, ending a two-month agelong impasse caused by the Hungarian veto spearheaded by Orbán.

The breakthrough came 2 days aft Zelenskyy announced that the Druzhba pipeline, which carries inexpensive Russian lipid to Hungary and Slovakia, had been repaired and could resume operations.

The interruption of lipid flows done Druzhba was astatine the halfway of Orbán's determination to veto the indebtedness successful February. The last-minute blockage outraged different EU leaders, who furiously condemned it arsenic an "unacceptable" effort to "blackmail."

Magyar, seen arsenic a much mean successor to Orbán, said helium wanted a reset successful relations with Brussels and would measure joining the eurozone.

He is besides seen arsenic little prickly towards Ukraine, saying helium wants Hungary to person affable relations with each of its neighbours.

He besides stressed that Ukraine cannot beryllium compelled to judge a bid woody that requires it to cede territory.

"No different state has the close to accidental that you should springiness up this oregon that territory. Anyone who says specified a happening is simply a traitor himself," Magyar said.

But helium besides said Ukraine's EU accession "in the adjacent 10 years" would not beryllium realistic and opposes immoderate fast-track process for the state to articulation the bloc.

Additional sources • AP, AFP