Zelenskyy holds first one-on-one meeting with Hungary's PM

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held his first official meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels and was held one-on-one.

According to one of European Pravda sources, the conversation lasted about 30 minutes, which significantly exceeded the plans announced by Hungary. Magyar had publicly predicted that he would speak for 10-15 minutes. However, the Ukrainian side had anticipated the duration that ultimately took place.

Notably, at the request of the Hungarian side, neither the Ukrainian nor the Hungarian press was allowed even into the protocol part of the meeting, several independent sources claim. It was also the Hungarian side that insisted the meeting be held entirely one-on-one, without assistants or delegation members, which is quite unusual for negotiations between leaders.

The meeting in Brussels took place following months of negotiations regarding the time and venue. Kyiv viewed this meeting as an opportunity to turn the recent diplomatic thaw into concrete progress in relations between the two countries.

Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, reported that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been invited to attend events marking the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution in Budapest. They are scheduled for 23 October.

Zelenskyy and Magyar met after the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) approved amendments to the law on education on Monday 12 October. These changes were necessary for Hungary to agree to the opening of clusters 2 and 3 in the negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

The following day, the EU opened negotiations with Ukraine on the two clusters after Hungary lifted its objections.

Read more in the article Hungary’s veto is no more. Now Ukraine must catch up with Moldova in the race to join the EU