Thirty minutes at the ministry
An AP reporter saw Stanislavov leaving the building of the Hungarian ministry on Budapest's Bem rakpart embankment less than half an hour after his arrival. The meeting was led by the new foreign policy chief Anita Orbán, who took up the post of deputy prime minister on 12 May and minister of foreign affairs on 13 May — the day before the summons. The former ambassador for energy security and one-time top executive at Vodafone Hungary has no family relationship with Viktor Orbán; it is merely a shared surname. TASR/AP ↗ Wikipedia: Anita Orbán ↗"I told the Russian ambassador that it is absolutely unacceptable for Hungary that they are now attacking Zakarpattia, home to the Hungarian minority," Orbán stated on social media after the meeting. "I emphasized that Russia should do everything for an immediate ceasefire and the soonest possible peaceful and lasting end to the war." Prime Minister Magyar told the Hungarian weekly Magyar Hang (website hang.hu) that, in his view, this was "the most violent attack to hit the Zakarpattia region since the outbreak of the war," and stressed that "even Hungarian railway workers had to go to shelters, because they were at the station in Chop." Aktuality / AP ↗
The now-opposition Fidesz also joined in criticizing Moscow. Parliamentary faction leader Gergely Gulyás told 24.hu that the Russian drone attack was "unacceptable," reasoning that "the Hungarians of the Zakarpattia region are not to blame for the war." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Budapest's response "an important signal" and thanked Magyar for his statements. HN/TASR ↗
The most massive strike on Zakarpattia since February 2022
According to reports from the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian army launched more than 800 drones on Wednesday, 13 May, and continued with missiles overnight. The head of the Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration, Myroslav Biletskyi, called the strike the strongest in the region since the start of the Russian invasion. According to the military administration's data, Ukrainian air defense registered eleven Shahed- and Geran-type drone targets over Zakarpattia. Ukrainian sources report hits on an industrial site in Uzhhorod, on a transformer and the railway station in Svalyava, and on a factory belonging to the American company Flex in Mukachevo, where timely evacuation prevented casualties, though six workers ended up in hospital. BBC ↗ United24 ↗ UNN ↗The attack also affected the area near the Chop railway station, where trains from Budapest terminate — the Ukrainian side evacuated Hungarian employees to shelters and subsequently transported them across the border home. According to the last Ukrainian census from 2001, approximately 151,000 ethnic Hungarians and about 20,000 Slovaks live in the Zakarpattia region, while more recent estimates put the Hungarian community at over 150,000. Both minorities are concentrated around Uzhhorod, Mukachevo, and Berehove. The Slovak Financial Administration closed all crossings with Ukraine for about two hours. Wikipedia: Hungarians in Ukraine ↗
Sulyok deleted the word "Russian." Magyar criticized him at the time
The symbolism of the shift stands out in comparison with last summer. President Tamás Sulyok — still from the Fidesz era at the time — after the missile strike on Mukachevo on 21 August 2025, first expressed on Facebook his "deep condolences to the victims of the Russian missile attack on Mukachevo." Less than an hour later, he edited the post and the word "Russian" disappeared from it. His office later explained that it was waiting for "official and detailed information about who bears responsibility for the attack." Magyar, then opposition leader, openly condemned Sulyok's edit at the time. RFE/RL ↗ Ukrainska Pravda ↗According to Hungarian independent media, former Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó did not once officially summon the Russian ambassador during four years of war, even though Mukachevo had already been hit by a missile in August 2025 and Zakarpattia repeatedly featured in Ukrainian reports on Russian strikes on neighboring regions. According to Hungarian media, Thursday's meeting between Anita Orbán and Stanislavov is the first such act in HU-RU diplomacy since February 2022. United24 ↗
Ukrainian analyst's hypothesis: "Putin is testing the end of the deal with Orbán"
Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musiienko, in an interview for the UNIAN agency, put forward the hypothesis that Moscow avoided Zakarpattia for four years likely due to a "possible tacit agreement" between Putin and the former Hungarian prime minister — and that after Orbán's departure, this restraint ended. Musiienko's hypothesis is not independently confirmed, but the analyst also points to a verifiable fact: during the three-day truce of 9–11 May, which Moscow proposed for the Victory Day celebrations and which Donald Trump supported, Russia "stockpiled reserves of Shaheds" and simultaneously began more actively using Belarusian territory as a flight route for drones toward western Ukraine. Euromaidan Press / UNIAN ↗In the same week, Anita Orbán also signaled a shift toward Brussels: the Tisza government announced the end of Hungary's blocking of sanctions packages and open support for Ukraine's "merit-based" path to the EU. A week earlier, Magyar discussed with Ursula von der Leyen a plan to obtain the frozen €10.4 billion by August 2026. United24 ↗
Also read: Magyar formed the first government after Orbán. They abolished the state of emergency, and the prime minister showed off luxury at the Ministry of Interior
Bratislava: no summons, no statement, no Merz
The Slovak response to the same attack was the exact opposite. Prime Minister Fico did not publicly comment on the drones near the Slovak border by Thursday evening, following his Saturday visit to Moscow. Former foreign policy chief Miroslav Wlachovský called this "a sovereign bowing to Putin" in comments to Denník N. Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár issued a condemnation of the attack only the following day, after the opposition had already criticized him. Instead of directly condemning Moscow, President Peter Pellegrini announced that he was requesting a "overhaul of the laws" on airspace protection, and opened negotiations on legislation that would allow the army to shoot down drones even in peacetime. Denník N ↗ TA3 ↗The opposition is pushing the Security Council of the Slovak Republic to convene. "Hungary summoned the Russian ambassador, Slovakia is silent. The prime minister is silent. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is silent," responded PS chairman Michal Šimečka. KDH leader Milan Majerský added: "Not even a week has passed since Robert Fico's bow to Putin, and now we already have attacks right near our borders." SaS commented on the situation by noting that "the new Hungarian government gave Slovakia a lesson not only in readiness, but also in how to stand up for one's nation." TASR ↗
Former foreign policy chief and PS deputy chairman Ivan Korčok added in a discussion on TA3 that "Fico damaged Slovakia's interests by going to Moscow, and Putin humiliated him." According to Korčok, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz canceled a planned visit to Bratislava because of Fico's attendance at Putin's celebrations — the Czech outlet Blesk also picked up this information. TA3 ↗ Blesk ↗
Also read: Uzhhorod under Russian drones for the first time. Slovakia closed the border crossings, reopened after two hours
What hotinfo is following
- Continuing attacks on Zakarpattia — whether Moscow answers the summons with further strikes (drones or missiles around Uzhhorod and Mukachevo)
- The Kremlin's response — a counter-note or summoning the Hungarian ambassador in Moscow
- Anita Orbán's first foreign trips — Brussels, Berlin, Warsaw (a signal of EU integration)
- The €10.4bn in frozen EU funds — progress in the von der Leyen–Magyar talks before August 2026
- The Hungarian government backs the EU's 21st sanctions package against Russia (a decision in the EU Council in June or July 2026)→ O čom píše Európa: Trump uvalil clá na 60 krajín aj EÚ, Španielsko v núdzovom s…Maďarsko 21. sankčný balík nezablokovalo — Rada ho definitívne schválila 23.7.2026 (48 osôb, 170 organizácií, energetika, financie, krypto, 30 plavidiel tieňovej flotily, vyjednávač Medinskij). Maďarské veto pod Magyarovou vládou teda nenastalo, čo je oproti Orbánovej ére obrat, o ktorom followup hovorí.
- Sulyok under pressure from Tisza — a petition to remove the president from the Fidesz era (the number of signatures, the vote)→ Sulyok odmieta odstúpiť z postu prezidenta. Magyar: „Mafiánsky boss“ mu nariadi…Sulyok 18.5. verejne odmietol Magyarovu výzvu odstúpiť, Magyar to označil za pokyn „mafiánskeho bossa“ (Orbána). Petícia samotná zatiaľ nemá publikované čísla, ale konflikt vrcholí (pravda.sk).
