Hungary, Ukraine to reopen all road border crossings on Monday

Hungary and Ukraine will reopen all five of their road border crossings by Monday morning, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after talks with Dmytro Kuleba, his Ukrainian counterpart.

Thursday’s joint press conference was held after the first meeting of the Hungarian-Ukrainian inter-governmental economic mixed committee in seven years, on which the two ministers signed a protocol.

The border crossings will reopen with the current travel regulations remaining in place, Szijjártó said in response to a question by MTI. The decision comes after László Brenzovics, head of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association, asked Budapest to reopen all the border crossings between the two countries with a view to easing the burden on the sole crossing station that had been open up until now between Záhony and Csáp, the minister said.

The Ukrainian government has agreed to this, Szijjártó said, adding that border officials were discussing the technical aspects of the reopenings.

Kuleba said Thursday’s meeting had also served to lay the groundwork for the prime ministerial summit between Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. In response to a question, Kuleba said Kiev was interested in a productive meeting between the two leaders at the summit it wants to organise next month. The protocol signed on Thursday will serve as the basis for a memorandum the two premiers will sign at the summit, he added.