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Hungary is ready to allow Ukrainian grain to transit through its territory to Western Europe, Prime Minister Peter Magyar told Hungarian TV channel RTL in an interview published Oct. 17.
The announcement followed a request from President Volodymyr Zelensky at an EU summit in Brussels on Oct. 16, as Kyiv sought to secure European support amid deteriorating ties with the U.S.
Zelensky said grain shipments across the Black Sea were currently not possible due to Russian attacks and urged Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary to allow Ukrainian grain to transit through their territory to Western countries, as they had done at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion.
During their first bilateral meeting, Zelensky also told Magyar that transporting Ukrainian grain to Western Europe in sealed rail cars would be a great help.
"I said that if it just passes through the country, then obviously there is no obstacle to it," Magyar said.
The Hungarian prime minister said a well-established transit procedure had been in place three to four years earlier, but was later discontinued.
Under the previous government led by Viktor Orban, Hungary declared a state of emergency and introduced a ban on Ukrainian agricultural products.
Concerns about the strength of Ukraine's agricultural sector have also complicated its relations with other European countries. Poland is blocking progress on one part of Ukraine's EU membership talks over concerns that Ukraine's accession would hurt Polish farmers.
The meeting between Zelensky and Magyar took place the same week the Ukrainian president signed a law on the educational rights of Ukraine's national minorities, a step Hungary had demanded before allowing Kyiv's EU accession talks to proceed.
"We see the Ukrainian parliament's adoption of the minority education law and the immediate start of its implementation as a first step towards rebuilding mutual trust," Magyar said after the meeting.