Hungary’s president took the lead in trying to reset relations with Ukraine, meeting her counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a bid to push past Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Kremlin-friendly rhetoric, according to Bloomberg.
Hungarian President Katalin Novak said she held “meaningful” talks with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a diplomatic conference in Kyiv, according to her late Wednesday post on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Zelenskyy, for his part, said he was “grateful” for the visit and would work with Novak to improve bilateral ties.
Hungary has been increasingly isolated in the European Union due to Orban’s efforts to undermine Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. He’s tried to block EU aid, refused to supply arms to Kyiv and has repeatedly said that Ukraine’s counter-offensive was doomed to fail.
Novak, who’s the supreme commander of Hungary’s armed forces but otherwise has a largely ceremonial role, took part in the Crimea Platform, Zelenskyy’s diplomatic push to rally support for the reintegration of the Russian-occupied peninsula.
She said that she had agreed on a five-point plan, including for Hungary to join Zelenskyy’s peace plan, which requires Russia to withdraw its troops from all of Ukraine’s territory.
Novak also said that they’d work on a document to reset bilateral relations and to strengthen the rights of the ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine.