“Slava Ukraini! This morning at City Hall I received a true hero, Ukraine’s ambassador to Budapest, Shandor Fedir (Sandor Fegyir). I had already heard a lot about the Ambassador—whose father is an ethnic Hungarian from [historic] Upper Hungary and whose mother is Ukrainian—and his life and courage are exemplary for me,” Peter Marki-Zay wrote on his social media page Wednesday afternoon.
The mayor of Hodmezovasarhely, who was the opposition’s joint prime ministerial candidate in the last elections, went into detail about when he first heard of Fegyir.
He recalled that although the Ukrainian government appointed Fegyir as ambassador to Budapest back in December 2022, after lengthy back-and-forth, the Hungarian government only accepted his credentials three years later, this past winter. “In Hodmezovasarhely, Ambassador Fegyir first met with Ukrainian refugees living in our city, with Deputy Mayor Dr. Karoly Berenyi, and with local Red Cross staff, and afterwards I received him in my office together with Consul General Dr. Alex Rovt and their delegation,” Marki-Zay told his followers.
During the meeting, the mayor expressed solidarity with the people of Ukraine and with ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, who he said had been shamefully abandoned by the Hungarian government.
Ukraine into the EU!
“I made it clear that Ukraine’s future—when the time comes—lies in the European Union. The day will come when we can live in an orderly and close relationship with our Hungarian compatriots in Romania, with our Hungarian brothers and sisters in Transcarpathia, and with Ukraine as well,” Marki-Zay stated.
Ambassador Fegyir thanked the residents of Hodmezovasarhely, the exemplary local Red Cross, all civil helpers, and the municipality for providing shelter and support to refugees from Ukraine—and for continuing to do so to this day. “At the end of our conversation, we agreed that the most important goal is peace as soon as possible. A country can only rebuild and prosper in peace, under orderly conditions, and under the leadership of true public servants. At the end of our official meeting, the Ambassador presented me with a military badge, the kind worn on the uniforms of Ukrainian soldiers defending their homeland,” the former opposition prime ministerial candidate reported.
