In our new podcast, Diána Vonnák discusses the recent past and present state of relations between Hungary and Ukraine. Focusing on questions of scholarship, culture and media, the conversation explores how prevalent Hungarian perspectives on Ukraine may be characterized and contextualized; how ties between Hungarians and Ukrainians have been transformed since 2022; and how this highly sensitive – and controversial – relationship could be improved in the near future.
Diána Vonnák is a social anthropologist with an interest in heritage and socio-political change who studies heritage institutions and professionals in contexts of crisis, armed conflict, and rapid political change. She obtained her PhD at Durham in 2020 and is currently a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the project Memory and Populism from Below, which is based primarily at the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She is also affiliated with the Centre for the Urban History of East-Central Europe in Lviv, and a member of Invisible University of Ukraine at the CEU. An award-winning literary author in Hungarian, she has conducted extensive research in Ukraine and has spent a significant amount of time there also since 2022.
The conversation was conducted by Ferenc Laczó and took place on April 16, 2026. Lilit Hakobyan edited the audio recording.
