According to the Hungarian nationalist politician, Zelenskyi left in a different mood than when he arrived.

Zoltán Babják, mayor of Beregszász, told 24.hu about Volodymyr Zelenskyi's visit to Transcarpathia the other day. As he told the newspaper: he did not receive an invitation to Zelensky's previous visit to Berezhsas as mayor, "but now the war has brought us together. Transcarpathian Governor Viktor Mikita arranged for us to meet, and it may have become clear to Zelenskyi's staff that meeting Hungarian leaders from Transcarpathia poses no risk for the president."

According to the Hungarian nationalist politician, Zelenskyi left in a different mood than when he arrived.

"The president, as is well known from the media, arrived in a not exactly cheerful mood, but left in a much more positive mood.

This could be the beginning of a dialogue between the two parties. The result of many problems is that Kiev simply does not understand what is in Transcarpathia, but the current visit can improve the situation a lot. I mentioned to him that when he spoke in Hungarian in his New Year's Eve speech in 2019, it was a forward-looking European gesture and meant a lot to me personally," he explained.

According to Babják, Zelensky talked about Transcarpathia being the engine of economic development. However, there was no mention of military industrial facilities - neither in Beregszász nor in Transcarpathia.

After five years, Zelensky also remembered the Transcarpathian Hungarians

The mayor of Beregsász said about the local public mood:

"Everyone is tense, everyone is affected by the war.

Either because their relatives are in the east, at the front or nearby, or because they went to the west and therefore cannot see each other. We don't have a shortage of food, the charitable organizations also do excellent work, but the desire to donate seems to have waned a bit lately. We are worried about the next winter: will there be enough gas and heating material, we may also need help from the motherland."

Featured image: MTI/EPA/Ukraine Presidential Press Service