Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that he had asked his American counterpart, Donald Trump, to influence Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán so that he would not block Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

Source: Zelenskyy during a conversation with journalists; Ukrinform; European Pravda

Details: Zelenskyy said that he asked Trump to ensure that Budapest would not block Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

"President Trump promised that his team would work on it," the Ukrainian president said.

He emphasised that Ukraine’s aspiration to become a member of the EU is its sovereign right, which is supported, in particular, by the United States.

"I believe it is absolutely fair that Ukraine wants to join the European Union. It has every right to do so. This is our sovereign right. And here, America will support us. This is also very important. And as far as I understand, the relevant signals from the White House will be sent to Budapest," he said.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy noted that the current policy of Budapest is "against us becoming members of the EU."

"They openly say so. But Ukraine deserves its independence and to be a member of the European Union. We have defended our independence, that is a fact, and everyone recognises it. And we want a just end to the war, we want to understand when we will be in the European Union, we want to have security guarantees," the Ukrainian president added.

Background:

• On 19 August, the media reported that Trump had called Orbán after the talks at the White House on 18 August to ask why he was blocking Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations.
• Orbán himself did not publicly comment on his conversation with the US president, but on 19 August, he opposed linking Ukraine’s EU membership with security guarantees for the country.
• Meanwhile, on 21 August, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó categorically denied the information about Trump’s call to Orban.
• "I want to state clearly that there was no such call. There was none. Period," he said.

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