Representatives of the Ukrainian and Hungarian governments will hold a bilateral meeting next week, Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, said on March 14 following a call with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
The last face-to-face talks between Szijjarto, his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, and Yermak were held in Uzhhorod, Zakarpattia Oblast, on Jan. 29. During Szijjarto's first visit to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war, Kyiv and Budapest agreed to establish a special commission to deal with the unresolved issues of national minorities.
Yermak did not specify where the new meeting would take place.
"We emphasized the importance of personal contact and expressed our hope for finding mutually beneficial solutions to the most difficult issues on the bilateral agenda," Yermak wrote on Telegram.
In late January, Olha Stefanishyna, the deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said Ukraine was working to organize an official visit by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the first in 14 years.
However, Szijjarto later said that the time for Orban to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky had not yet come.
Zelensky and Orban were last seen talking on the sidelines of the inauguration of Argentina's President Javier Milei on Dec. 10, 2023, which Ukraine's president described as a "frank" conversation.
Hungary has consistently opposed sanctions on Russia, undermined Western aid efforts for Ukraine, and maintained close relations with Moscow since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
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