Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban said she protested Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast during a conversation with Russian Ambassador Evgeny Stanislavov on May 14.
“I told the Russian ambassador that it is completely unacceptable to Hungary that Zakarpattia, inhabited by Hungarians, is also being attacked,” Orban said in a Facebook video.
“I emphasized that Russia must do everything in its power to secure an immediate ceasefire and bring about a peaceful and lasting end to the war as soon as possible,” she added.
The comments came after Hungary summoned the Russian ambassador following Moscow’s latest mass attack against Ukraine, which included what Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar described as an unprecedented number of drones targeting Zakarpattia Oblast.
Russia launched more than 800 drones during the May 13 attack, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more all around Ukraine, including children.
Ukraine’s western Zakarpattia Oblast, home to a sizable Hungarian minority, was among the regions targeted. The city of Uzhhorod, located near Ukraine’s border with the EU, was struck with attack drones for the first time since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Anita Orban, who is not related to former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has taken a markedly different approach from her predecessor Peter Szijjarto, who was closely associated with Budapest’s earlier pro-Russian policy.
Since defeating Viktor Orban in a landmark election, Magyar has moved to improve relations between Hungary and Ukraine after years of tensions between Kyiv and Budapest.
President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Hungary’s decision to summon the ambassador on May 13, calling it “a significant message” and saying Russia had once again demonstrated that it poses “a threat not only to Ukraine but also to neighboring countries and Europe as a whole.”