Top Ukrainian diplomat meets Azerbaijani, Hungarian, Armenian counterparts in Brussels

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine’s top diplomat met his Azerbaijani, Hungarian and Armenian counterparts in Brussels, where he attended a ministerial meeting of the EU Eastern Partnership and a session of EU Foreign Affairs Council.

“It was good to meet with my Azerbaijani colleague Jeyhun Bayramov to discuss Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula and our bilateral cooperation,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on X late Monday.

“I reiterated Ukraine’s support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, as well as initiatives to develop regional cooperation in the space between the Caspian and Black Seas."

In a separate statement, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said the two ministers exchanged views on cooperation prospects between Azerbaijan and Ukraine in various fields, including transport, energy and humanitarian.

Bayramov informed Kuleba on the recent developments in the South Caucasus region and the process of Azerbaijani-Armenian normalization.

Kuleba later held talks with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto, and informed him of the “recent changes to the Ukrainian legislation on national minorities,” besides discussing the issue of opening Ukraine’s EU accession talks. It was the first in-person meeting between the two since the start of Russia's war on Ukraine in February 2022.

“I emphasized that the political decision on this matter is well-reasoned and timely. Ukraine and Hungary share a common European future. We will continue our dialogue ahead of the European Council summit later this week,” Kuleba said on X.

For his part, Szijjarto wrote on Facebook that he and Kuleba talked about Ukraine's ambition for European integration, which he described as “not a tactical issue for us, but rather a decision that is historically significant for the future of the European Union as a whole.”

“The decision proposal is unprepared, and the European Commission practically has no idea what effect Ukraine's EU membership would have on the entire community … The European Commission did not carry out the preparatory work that would guarantee that Ukraine would conduct accession negotiations in a mutually beneficial manner,” he added.

Kuleba lastly met his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan to advance bilateral dialogue, expressing that Ukraine “stands for peace in the South Caucasus, based on respect for the UN Charter and international law, as well as the development of regional trade and cultural projects spanning the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea.”