BUDAPEST, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Budapest and Kyiv agreed to put their relations on a new footing, Hungary’s Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Friday after meeting Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as the leaders aim to calm tensions over minority rights.
Magyar has taken a less confrontational stance towards Kyiv than his predecessor Viktor Orban. He had repeatedly said that Hungary would not send arms to Ukraine, however, and demanded progress on the rights of its ethnic Hungarian minority.
“I assured the Ukrainian president of my full solidarity over the inhuman Russian aggression against his country,” Magyar wrote in a Facebook post after what he called his first official bilateral meeting with Zelenskiy in Brussels.
Magyar also said that Hungary was ready to assist Ukraine by all possible diplomatic means to reach a ceasefire and lasting peace.
Zelenskiy called the meeting “very good” and said that the two leaders discussed a lot of topics. He also said that he “won’t mind” visiting Budapest.
Warmer relations between Hungary and Ukraine are pivotal for the European Union’s backing for Kyiv in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Former Prime Minister Orban had opposed the flow of billions of euros in aid to Ukraine and its EU membership.
Orban made scepticism towards support for Ukraine in its war with Russia a central plank of his campaign ahead of an April election that ended his premiership after 16 years.
On Tuesday, Ukraine took a step forward in its European Union membership bid, opening talks with the bloc on internal market and competitiveness standards, after Hungary dropped its objections.
Magyar’s government backed the move after Ukraine’s parliament passed legislation on Monday expanding the rights of Hungarian speakers and other minorities to receive education in their native language.
“I welcomed the political agreement reached between Hungary and Ukraine on strengthening the rights of the Transcarpathian Hungarian minority,” Magyar said after his meeting with Zelenskiy.
He also said that he considered the passing of the legislation on minority education “as the first step in restoring mutual trust” between the two countries.
(Reporting by Anita Komuves; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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