Ukrainian prisoners of war could enter Hungary from Turkey

Eleven Ukrainian prisoners of war ended up in Hungary in June without Ukraineʼs knowledge. They could get there through Turkey.

The Hungarian editorial office of "Radio Liberty" reports about it.

The plane with the military arrived in Budapest on June 7 from Turkey, not from Russia. The very next day, the Russian Orthodox Church announced that it was done with its assistance, and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Hungarian government, Zsolt Semjén, who allegedly organized the release and transfer of prisoners of war, confirmed this.

Government sources say that the transfer of Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary bypassed the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Therefore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjártó initially declared that the Hungarian government was not involved, but then added that the government "was not against this step."

International lawyer Tamas Hoffmann believes that there are two options for the development of events: "Either the Russian side released them when they handed them over to Hungary, or the soldiers were handed over to Hungary as prisoners of war, and Hungary released them." Other sources noted that although the prisoners of war were of Hungarian origin, only one of them had dual citizenship and spoke Hungarian.

Petro Yatsenko, the spokesman of the Office of Prisoners of War of Ukraine, also confirmed the Hungarian origin of the military, but emphasized that they are representatives of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

Diplomatic sources of the Hungarian editorial office of Radio Liberty reported that the Hungarian authorities considered it beneficial for the prisoners of war to remain in the country, and manipulated them, in particular, saying that they would immediately be sent to the front if they returned to Ukraine. This was confirmed by the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko.

Doubts arise regarding the full responsibility of the Russian Orthodox Church for the transfer of prisoners of war, since the enemyʼs army takes military prisoners and their further fate is decided by the Ministry of Defense. Therefore, without the permission of the Kremlin, the church would hardly be able to conduct such a campaign.

• On June 8, the Russian Orthodox Church announced 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 handled exclusively by the Coordination Headquarters, with which neither the ROC nor Hungary contacted. Officially, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Szijjártó, stated that Budapest was not involved in this, and the transfer of Ukrainian prisoners to the Hungarian side took place as a result of "discussions between the church and religious organizations."
• On June 20, Ukraine managed to return three prisoners of war from Hungary. Two more returned to Ukraine in three days.