Hungarian Foreign Ministry condemns Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zakarpattia, summons Russian ambassador for the first time

Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán has summoned Russia’s ambassador over a Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Region. Hungarian outlet Telex reported the move, citing Prime Minister Péter Magyar at the first meeting of his new government on May 13.

Evgeny Stanislavov is expected to appear before Orbán on May 14. Magyar said Orbán would deliver a protest and ask “when Russia and Vladimir Putin plan to finally end this bloody war, which began more than four years ago.”

Magyar, speaking on behalf of the government, condemned the attack on Zakarpattia, a region that is home to a significant ethnic Hungarian population. The attack hit the cities of Mukachevo and Uzhhorod, as well as other settlements in the region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Magyar for his “concern and strong position.”

Telex noted that Péter Szijjártó, foreign minister in Viktor Orbán’s government, frequently summoned foreign ambassadors, including envoys from the United States, Austria, Germany, Finland, Denmark, and Ukraine. The Russian ambassador, however, had never been summoned to the country’s Foreign Ministry.

Myroslav Biletskyi, head of the Zakarpattia regional military administration, said that on May 13 the region came under its heaviest attack since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At least 11 drones entered the region’s airspace; some were shot down or radar-lost.