During his speech at the Conference of the Speakers of EU Parliaments in Budapest, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk called for the removal of artificial obstacles blocking the start of accession negotiations between Ukraine and the European Union.
According to Ukrinform, Stefanchuk shared this message on Facebook.
He reminded participants that Russia and the war it unleashed remain the greatest threat to Europe’s future, while the resulting energy, political, and humanitarian challenges stem from the failure to deter the aggressor.
“Ukraine is ready for peace — for a 30-day ceasefire and the start of negotiations. But this peace must be just: without concessions on territory, the Defense Forces, or Ukraine’s right to choose its own path. The only effective response to aggression remains European unity and determination,” Stefanchuk said.
He urged his counterparts to remove artificial barriers to launching EU membership talks with Ukraine, encouraging them to “speak not the language of lecturing, but the language of support,” adding that the Ukrainian people “are not students — they are warriors defending peace in Europe.”
He also referenced the shared historical memory of Ukraine and Hungary, honoring the victims of “malenkij robot” — the Soviet-era forced deportation of hundreds of thousands of Hungarians — and thanked Hungary for recognizing the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people back in 2003.
“Our peoples are not enemies. We are neighbors, partners, and friends. Our shared enemy is Moscow’s totalitarianism, which has always sought to divide us. That is why resolute and responsible decisions are needed. Weak compromises are like marmalade souffle on Putin’s bloodied dentures,” Stefanchuk said.
On May 11, Stefanchuk honored the memory of Hungarians illegally deported to the USSR — victims of the so-called “malenkij robot,” one of the most tragic chapters in 20th-century Hungarian history.
Photo credit: Ruslan Stefanchuk / Facebook
