Foreign Ministry: 3 out of 11 Ukrainian POWs transferred to Hungary return home.

Ukraine managed to return three out of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war that were earlier transferred from Russia to Hungary without Kyiv's agreement, Foreign Ministry's spokesperson reported[1] on June 20. Ukrainian diplomats and other authorities are working to return the remaining POWs, Oleh Nikolenko said on Facebook, without providing any further details. Earlier the same day, Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto denied[2] his government's involvement in the transfer of POWs, contrary to the Ukrainian military intelligence claims.

According to Nikolenko, Hungary's acts can qualify as violations of the European Convention on Human Rights. On June 8, the Russian Orthodox Church announced[3] that it had handed over to Hungary a group of Ukrainian captives of "Zakarpattia origin" at Budapest's request. Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen later confirmed the transfer.

Ukraine's westernmost Zakarpattia Oblast is home to around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians, including 400 serving in the Ukrainian army. On June 19, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry demanded[4] immediate consular access to the POWs. According to the ministry, they were kept in isolation, not having access to open sources of information and unable to communicate with relatives without "third parties" presence.

However, Szijjarto said the Ukrainian POWs "can move freely in Hungary and do whatever they want." The European Commission asked[5] the Hungarian government to explain its involvement in the prisoner transfer. Meanwhile, Russian authorities haven't commented on the issue.

Hungary to block sanctions against Russia, EU aid for Ukraine unless Kyiv removes OTP bank from list of 'international war sponsors.'

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that his country won't support the 11th sanctions package against Russia and the 500 million euro military support tranche for Ukraine unless Kyiv removes the Hungarian bank from the blacklist.

[6] Dinara Khalilova

News editor

Dinara Khalilova is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent.

She has previously worked as a fixer and local producer for Sky News.

Dinara holds a BA in journalism from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and a Master's degree in media and communication from Bournemouth University in the UK.

References

  1. ^ reported (www.facebook.com)
  2. ^ denied (kyivindependent.com)
  3. ^ announced (kyivindependent.com)
  4. ^ demanded (kyivindependent.com)
  5. ^ asked (kyivindependent.com)
  6. ^ Hungary to block sanctions against Russia, EU aid for Ukraine unless Kyiv removes OTP bank from list of 'international war sponsors.'Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that his country won't support the 11th sanctions package against Russia and the 500 million euro military support tranche for Ukraine unless Kyiv removes the Hungarian bank from the blacklist. (kyivindependent.com)

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