Zelenskyy invited to Budapest as Ukraine and Hungary move toward diplomatic reset

"We have received an invitation. On 23 October, an event will be held to mark the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution," Deputy Head of Ukraine's Presidential Office Ihor Zhovkva told Euronews. "The President of Ukraine has received an invitation to attend. We shall see."

The visit has not yet been confirmed.

The invitation comes ahead of Zelenskyy's first formal bilateral meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, scheduled for October 16 on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels.

"Our expectations are very positive," Zhovkva said.

The diplomatic opening follows a breakthrough in Ukraine's EU accession negotiations. On October 12, Ukraine adopted legislation strengthening educational rights for national minorities, addressing a longstanding dispute over the ethnic Hungarian community in Transcarpathia.

The following day, Hungary dropped its objections to opening two additional EU accession negotiation clusters, bringing the total to four out of six.

Under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Hungary had repeatedly blocked progress in Ukraine's EU accession talks. Magyar's government has taken a more constructive approach while continuing to press Kyiv on minority rights.

Zhovkva said European integration would be a central topic of the Brussels meeting, but Ukraine also hoped to expand bilateral cooperation.

"It really is time to sit down and talk," he said.

Magyar described Ukraine's minority education legislation as a historic breakthrough and suggested another meeting could take place in Berehove, a town in western Ukraine with a substantial ethnic Hungarian population, later this autumn.

The Budapest commemoration would mark 70 years since the Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule, which was crushed by Soviet forces in 1956.

French President Emmanuel Macron is also expected to attend, while European Council President António Costa is likely to participate, according to Euronews.