MFA: Ukrainian diplomats do not have direct contact with prisoners of war in Hungary — it ignores Ukraineʼs attempts to start a dialogue

During the last few days, Ukrainian diplomats failed to establish direct contact with 11 prisoners of war whom Hungary took out of Russia without the knowledge of Ukraine or international human rights organizations.

This was stated by the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Oleh Nikolenko.

According to him, the information from relatives who were able to see the captured Ukrainians shows that the words of Hungary about the allegedly free status of the Ukrainian military do not correspond to reality.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that they are actually kept in isolation without access to open sources of information, and their communication with relatives takes place in the presence of third parties. They are also denied contact with the Embassy of Ukraine.

"The attempts of the Ukrainian side to establish a constructive dialogue with the Hungarian authorities through official diplomatic channels are, unfortunately, ignored. Such actions of Budapest call into question the declared humanitarian motives for the deportation of Ukrainians to Hungary. In addition, they can be qualified as a violation of the provisions of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms," Oleh Nikolenko emphasized.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine once again appealed to Hungary, demanding to immediately allow the Ukrainian consul to visit the prisoners of war, so that he could assess their physical and psychological condition, explain their rights and provide urgent consular assistance.

• On June 8, the Russian Orthodox Church informed that it had handed over to Hungary Ukrainian prisoners of war originally from Transcarpathia, who took part in hostilities.
• The Ukrainian side did not know about it and was not involved in the process in any way. The issue of prisoners of war is exclusively dealt with by the Coordination Headquarters, with which neither the Russian Orthodox Church nor Hungary has contacted.
• Ukraine invited the temporary representative of Hungary, submitted a request to provide detailed information about its citizens and to urgently ensure access to them for the Ukrainian consul — so that he could verify their state of health and provide them with consular assistance.
• Later, Ukraine established the names of the soldiers, the route by which they were moved to Hungary, informed their relatives and relevant law enforcement agencies. However, Ukraine did not learn the names during the official negotiations with the Hungarian side.