Zelensky Says Even If Putin Does Not Oppose Ukraine's EU Membership, Hungary's Stance Remains Strange

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The head of state made this statement during a briefing with European Council President António Costa, according to a Ukrinform correspondent.

"Finally, we are hearing signals from Russia that they now accept Ukraine's membership in the European Union. It is a pity that they are accepting reality with such a delay. Since 2013, Russia has been moving towards this simple idea, but now some of Russia's other great friends in Europe need to hear it too. If even Putin does not object, then the position of some countries, especially Hungary, regarding clusters in the negotiations looks really strange," Zelensky said.

He noted that there is already unanimity on the issue of Ukraine's future membership in the European Union .

"It is important that everyone sees Ukraine as part of the European Union. Ukraine's membership in the European Union is a really big change. It is a guarantee of security. This applies to both economic and geopolitical security. I am grateful to everyone who sees the situation in this way. Ukraine's membership in the European Union is also supported by the United States, which believes that our security on the continent should be a common European cause," the head of state said.

He recalled that yesterday in Paris, during a conversation with US President Donald Trump, the key topic was Europe's energy security.

"Yesterday, by the way, in a conversation with President Trump, there was a lot of talk about energy security. And (about) how to reduce Russian revenues. President Trump was dissatisfied with the fact that Europeans are buying Russian oil and gas . This applies, in particular, to the policies of some European countries – Slovakia, Hungary, and probably other countries as well. Today, I will discuss this with the Prime Minister of Slovakia later . We hope that our other neighbors will also hear the relevant signals," the President of Ukraine said.

According to Zelensky, there are no grounds or reasons for any accusations from Hungary regarding Ukraine's accession to the EU.

“Legally, we are doing everything that the European Commission recommends [for Ukraine's accession to the EU]. So I doubt that there is any basis for any accusations from Hungary against Ukraine in this regard. There are no reasons for blocking [the opening of negotiation clusters on EU accession],” he said.

The President also added that Ukraine is ready to discuss this with Hungary.

“We are ready to discuss what else they are not satisfied with and how else we can help to make them satisfied. Teams are working on this,” President Zelensky said.

Read also: Von der Leyen after Coalition of the Willing summit: There was resolve and concrete delivery

As reported by Ukrinform, Hungary remains the only EU member state blocking the opening of the first cluster in negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union, while the other 26 leaders at the summit on June 26 spoke in favor of such an opening.

Ukraine and Moldova have fulfilled all the conditions for opening negotiations on accession to the European Union in the clusters“Fundamental Areas,”“Internal Market” and“External Relations,” as stated in early June by the then Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna. This is the first block,“Fundamentals of EU Accession,” as well as the most important cluster concerning Ukraine's participation in the EU internal market and the block concerning foreign and security policy.

Negotiations on EU accession are divided into 35 chapters, grouped into six clusters. They are opened in turn, depending on the progress made by the candidate country.

Photo: European Union

MENAFN05092025000193011044ID1110021791