Ukrainian and Hungarian Foreign Ministers meet in a border city “to normalize bilateral relations”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó, and Ukraine’s Head of Presidential Office Andriy Yermak met in the Ukrainian border city of Uzhhorod, 20 km to the Hungarian border on 29 January 2024.

“The purpose of the visit is to normalize bilateral relations between the two countries by strengthening dialogue at the community level and addressing a number of topical issues,” the Ukrainian press release states.

Péter Szijjártó arrived in Ukraine at the Ukrainian side’s invitation. Head of Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration, Viktor Mykyta, also participated in the talks. Szijjártó praised Mykyta for “bringing a completely new approach to Zakarpattia: a culture of reconciliation so that Ukrainians and Hungarians can live side by side in peace and harmony.

“We would like to improve the cooperation between Ukraine and Hungary, so it is good that the head of the Oblast Administration joined the Ukrainian delegation at the border in Zahon,” Szijarto wrote.

As was previously reported, Hungary claimed more rights for the Hungarian minority, comprising nearly 10% in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region, while the leader of the Hungarian parliamentarian far-right party Mi Hazank (Our Homeland), even said it would claim Zakarpattia region if Ukraine loses its statehood due to the war with Russia.

During the negotiations, Szijjártó said he wanted Hungarians in Zakarpattia to have rights that they had before 2015. However, Ukraine has already adopted the key law on education in 2023 which returned such rights for Hungarians, in particular, the right to receive entire school education in Hungarian and not only during the first four years.

Before the negotiations, officials also paid tribute to the fallen defenders of Ukraine from the Zakarpattia region. Andriy Yermak, Dmytro Kuleba, and Péter Szijjártó placed icon lamps at the monument to the fallen defenders at the Kalvaria cemetery. They also visited the graves of the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of Hungarian nationality who perished in the war with the Russian aggressor.

Before the negotiations, Minister @DmytroKuleba, Head of the Office of the President @AndriyYermak & the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Péter Szijjártó paid tribute to

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