Ukrainian-Hungarian relations should be approached with a warm heart, but with a cool head – Kuleba

There's no reason to believe that the Hungarian community in Ukraine is prone to separatism.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated this at a press conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.

"There's no reason to believe that Ukrainian Hungarians are prone to separatism, just as there's no reason to believe that the Ukrainian state wants to do any harm to Ukrainian Hungarians in Zakarpattia. We're one country, one society, and we'll always be."

Kuleba stressed that there was one significant obstacle to the development of Ukrainian-Hungarian relations. It's emotions and suspicions.

"We talked about this separately with Péter today, and we agreed that Ukrainian-Hungarian relations should be approached with a warm heart, but with a cool head. I denounce any disrespect for the Hungarian society of Ukraine and consider any anti-Ukrainian rhetoric from some circles in Hungary," Kuleba said.

The Ukrainian minister added that there was no reason to suspect the Ukrainian-Hungarian community of any evil intentions.

"But there can be individual criminal proceedings in which the activities of specific people will be investigated. We live in a country where the rule of law prevails, where there's an investigation, where there's a court, and everyone defends themselves in court. But I'm deeply convinced that the activity of one person shouldn't hold hostage the relationship between two good neighbors. If you break the law, you have to be responsible; if you prove in court that you didn't break the law, all charges are dropped," Kuleba explained.

In turn, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that he hoped Budapest was also interested in developing mutual trust.

"Minister spoke about the rule of law and that everyone can exercise their right, and that he doesn't agree with any statements of intentions of separatism in Hungary. I want to hope that all participants who are representatives of the Ukrainian state will also act in this direction," Szijarto added.