President Katalin Novák travelled to Transcarpathia on Tuesday to attend a mass dedicated to Saint Stephen at the Roman Catholic church of Berehove.
The president said that despite all the current difficulties, it was good to celebrate with ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia. In her address, she thanked “all those that persevere and stay here, building their communities and those that lead these communities.” Novák said that during her upcoming talks in Kyiv, she would tell her negotiating partners that “they can rely on Hungarians … Hungary helps”. “We expect that ethnic Hungarians can live here in Transcarpathia in a way that’s worthy of them and Europe,” she added. Commenting on the war in Ukraine, she said strength must be gathered. “Let’s gain strength from those Ukrainian friends that we can rely on,” she added, expressing hope that “we will have a common future, even if we cannot see the path leading to it now.” She said strength could also be gathered from “our common thousand-year history”, the members of the community and work of aid organisations. “But first of all, let’s gather strength from our common Christian faith,” she added and prayed for peace with the congregation.