With Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressing a desire to negotiate with two pro-peace leaders on the right, Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán, it appears that the Ukrainian president is anticipating a potentially unfavourable scenario for Ukraine: a right-wing shift in both Europe and overseas.
All indications suggest that Viktor Orbán and Volodymyr Zelenskyy may soon be sitting down at the negotiating table. The parties have a multitude of contentious issues to discuss, beginning with the rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia.
Photographs and television footage from the inauguration revealed a meeting and exchange of words between PM Orbán of Hungary and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. According to the Hungarian PM’s chief press secretary, the two statesmen were discussing the ongoing negotiations about Ukraine’s potential EU accession.
President Novák and President Zelenskyy engaged in a fruitful one-on-one in Kyiv, which may pave the way for more constructive bilateral relations.
While Sofia, Prague, Bratislava and Ankara seemed to be eager to send more aid to Ukraine and support the war-torn country in its NATO bid, the NATO summit in Vilnius must have been a disappointing ending to a promising start for Zelenskyy.
PM Orbán must have ‘run into’ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the meeting, as some Hungarian media put it. However, conspicuously, Viktor Orbán did not post any photos of him and the Ukrainian leader to social media, as opposed to prominently featured pictures with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in a Facebook post. In fact, no formal meeting has been held between the two leaders since Zelenskyy entered office. Although Orbán has been invited to Kyiv, the Hungarian government has made it quite clear that the Hungarian PM will not be travelling to Ukraine unless the rights of the Hungarian minority in the country are restored.
Ukraine has proven to be quite willing to turn a blind eye to the transgressions of China for very pragmatic reasons. It seems practical stances in foreign policy are allowed after all, until some powerful figures in politics and media choose to stir up some selective outrage.
During the European Council summit on Thursday, EU leaders welcomed the Ukrainian president to Brussels, showing support for the West’s ally as Ukraine gets ready for an anticipated Russian offensive.
The Hungarian Prime Minister was put under scrutiny for not applauding the Ukrainian President—however, he was not the only one, as some Western journalists and politicians have claimed.
In the latest sign of deteriorating relations, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned Hungarian Ambassador to Kyiv Antal Hejzer in response to an advertising campaign portraying Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar as the ‘Hungarian Zelenskyy’. Ukraine’s EU accession is increasingly becoming a central topic in the electoral campaign for Hungary’s 2026 parliamentary election.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
