Hungary not to supply Ukraine with weapons, to give it humanitarian support - FM

MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) - Hungary is not planning to supply Ukraine with weapons but will continue to provide it with humanitarian support, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

"I have to tell you that we won't supply weapons in the future, just as we haven't supplied them as yet," Szijjarto said while taking questions from the media following a meeting with high-ranking Ukrainian officials in Uzhgorod on Monday.

Hungary has never denied aid to Ukrainian citizens, particularly temporarily displaced persons, whenever they asked for it, Szijjarto said. "And we are not going to [deny such aid]. We're continuing the humanitarian aspect," Szijjarto said.

Hungarian humanitarian aid has reached over 1.5 million families in 20 regions across Ukraine, he said.

Hungary and Ukraine plan to open a new border checkpoint and build a new bridge across the Tisa river, Szijjarto said.

"This has almost been agreed upon. We'll open a new crossing on the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. And this means we'll be able to lighten the load on the currently operating checkpoints," Ukrainian media quoted Szijjarto as saying at a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and Ukrainian presidential office chief Andrei Yermak in Uzhgorod on Monday.

The parties also agreed to widen the road and railway crossings at Beregsurany and Zahony and build a new bridge across the Tisa together, he said.

"I thanked my Ukrainian counterparts for guaranteeing us a reliable transit route for crude oil over the past two years. I asked my Ukrainian counterparts to make sure that this continues and to provide proper working conditions for Hungarian companies that are present on the Ukrainian market," he said.

As Ukrainian media reported, Kuleba said at the press conference that Hungary presented Ukraine with a list of questions concerning the protection of the rights of the Hungarian minority. A special commission has been given ten days to submit "a concrete understanding" to the two governments as to which of these issues need to be addressed or have already been solved, he said.

Ukraine and Hungary agreed that they wanted to settle the issue of minorities' rights, and a significant part of the meeting in Uzhgorod was devoted to the matter, Kuleba said.

Szijjarto said Hungary handed Ukraine a list of 11 questions concerning the rights of the Hungarian ethnic minority that it wished to be clarified.

Media quoted Yermak as saying at the press conference in Uzhgorod that Ukraine and Hungary have made a substantial step toward arranging a meeting between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

"Definitely, we are interested in making sure that this meeting is successful and truly starts a fresh page in our relations," he said.

"We didn't speak of a particular date today, but we voiced an interest on both sides in holding such a meeting as soon as possible," Yermak said.