Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have agreed to hold their first bilateral meeting in the near future, the Hungarian premier stated ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Ukrinform reports.

“Yesterday I had the opportunity to briefly speak with President Zelenskyy, and we agreed to meet bilaterally in the near future,” the politician told journalists.

The key condition for normalizing relations and lifting the veto on Ukraine’s European integration is Budapest’s 11 demands concerning the restoration of the rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja). Back in May, Magyar said their fulfillment was a necessary condition for Hungary’s approval of the start of Ukraine’s EU accession talks.

After two months of negotiations, two demands remain unresolved: representation of the Hungarian minority in government bodies and ensuring the use of their native language.

Kyiv is required to restore the status of national minority schools, allow graduation exams to be taken in Hungarian, and ensure the free use of the Hungarian language in education, culture, public administration and public life. The representation of the Hungarian minority in the Ukrainian parliament also remains an important issue.

Since late April, Magyar has been proposing a meeting in Transcarpathia if negotiations on restoring the rights of the Transcarpathia Hungarians are successful. Although the exact place and time of the meeting have not yet been announced, the very fact that an agreement has been reached indicates progress in bilateral relations.

For the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia, the upcoming meeting is doubly interesting. It is a concrete mechanism to pressure Kyiv into fulfilling demands that could radically change their situation. Lifting the veto on Ukraine’s EU accession talks means that the rights of the Hungarian minority become part of a broader European process, giving them additional protection at the EU level.

If you missed it: Here’s where Péter Magyar could meet Zelensky before joint visit to Transcarpathia

But not all political figures in Kyiv view dialogue with Budapest positively. A resonant statement by Taras Zahorodniy, a member of the “National Anti-Crisis Group,” circulated in the Ukrainian press. Ahead of the possible meeting of the leaders, he effectively accused the western neighbor of intending to annex Transcarpathia, comparing Hungary to Russia.

The announced meeting between Magyar and Zelenskyy could become a turning point not only in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations but also in the fate of the Transcarpathia Hungarian community, which has been waiting for years to have its rights restored. At the same time, the Ukrainian side, eager to quickly resume EU integration talks, is extremely sensitive about national minority issues, posing a real threat to the successful completion of the negotiation process.

As we wrote earlier, Agreement with Ukraine regulating the rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia became official June 12, 2026. Details HERE.