Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had a short discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while in Brussels attending the EU’s two-day summit, Daily Magyar Nemzet reports.
A video of the meeting was also posted on social media, showing them having a lively discussion. However, neither the Hungarian prime minister nor the Ukrainian president gave any details of what the topic of conversation might have been.
The Ukrainian president also briefly mentioned Hungary in a social media post on X on Thursday, thanking Europe for its support and the Belgian presidency, and expressing hope that the upcoming Hungarian presidency will be as successful.
According to Hungarian news agency MTI, Zelensky made a speech in Brussels before the meeting and subsequently signed a security pact with the European Union. The pact reaffirms the commitment of member states to provide broad support to Ukraine. It deepens existing EU initiatives, including the training of Ukrainian soldiers, and makes long-term commitments to supply Ukraine with artillery shells and air defense systems.
A bilateral meeting between the Ukrainian president and the Hungarian prime minister had been long overdue.
“In preparation for the Volodymyr Zelensky-Orbán meeting, we have set the condition that we first agree on how to settle the outstanding issues on the table,” Deputy Foreign Minister Levente Magyar told Magyar Nemzet late last year.
“We have not yet reached that point, so a meeting would not be timely, but we are working on it. The Ukrainians have now taken some steps to redress our grievances,” he added.
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó recently said that all Hungarian conditions have been included in the framework document for EU accession negotiations with Ukraine. According to an earlier report by MTI, Fidesz MEP Andrea Bocskor said the move was “a significant Hungarian diplomatic success, which is a major achievement for the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia in terms of regaining their rights lost in recent years.”
