Zelenskyy said that even Putin is not against Ukraine in the EU, but not Hungary. Budapest: We don't care

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted during a joint press conference with the head of the European Council Antonio Costa that now even the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin states that he is not against Ukraine's accession to the European Union, unlike Hungary. The latter's foreign minister Peter Szijjártó replied that Russia's position allegedly does not influence his country's opinion.

Zelenskyy emphasized that all of the partners equally see Ukraine as part of the European Union: "This is a really huge change. Ukraine's membership in the EU is a guarantee of security. It is about economic security and geopolitical security. I am grateful to everyone who sees the situation this way. Ukraine's membership in the EU is also supported by America, which believes that our security for everyone on the [European] continent should be a common European cause."

He also added that Kyiv is finally hearing signals from Russia that it "already accepts [Ukraine's] membership in the EU."

"It's a pity that they are accepting reality with such a delay – since 2013, Russia has been coming to this simple idea. But now some of Russia's other great friends in Europe need to hear this: even if Putin does not deny it, the positions of some countries, especially Hungary regarding clusters in the negotiations, look really strange," the Ukrainian leader emphasized.

Subsequently, the head of Hungarian diplomacy, Szijjártó, reacted to this statement, saying that Zelenskyy allegedly "judges by his own standards" and that his position is allegedly "dictated from abroad," while Hungary's opinion is not.

"We don’t care what Moscow thinks about Ukraine’s EU membership. The only thing we care about is what the Hungarian people think, and they have spoken clearly: they don’t want Ukraine in the EU, as it would destroy our farmers, our labor market, and our security (This is probably a reference to this year's "national poll" in Hungary, the results of which were called by the opposition and the country's media falsified). So no matter how much Zelenskyy counts on Russia to influence us, Hungary will not support Ukraine’s EU accession," he said.

• At the same conference, Zelenskyy said that US president Trump had promised to work to unblock the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.