Ukraine’s Ombudsman Complains Over Silence of Hungarian Counterpart on POWs

The Hungarian Ombudsman left unanswered the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, regarding the Ukrainian soldiers, former prisoners of war whom Russia handed over to Hungary.

The official touched on the topic, speaking on the air of the national telethon, Ukrinform reports.

"I turned to the Hungarian ombudsman as soon as I received information about the stay of our citizens in such status and asked how it happened that now Ukrainian citizens who have the official status of prisoners of war in the territory of the Russian Federation were somehow transferred to the territory of Hungary? Where are they? Under what conditions? Why are Ukrainian diplomats not allowed to visit them? Unfortunately, I have not received a single answer from my Hungarian counterpart, so I turned to an international institution that can evaluate the actions of the ombudsman," Lubinets said.

According to him, currently part of this group of Ukrainian soldiers remain on the territory of Hungary in conditions similar to captivity: they have a limited circle of communication and their mobile phones have been seized. Relatives were allowed to visit some of them but they were only able to talk in the presence of the Hungarian side.

Earlier, Lubinets said that Hungary had violated international humanitarian law because it is illegal for them to take POWs from the territory of the Russian Federation. Separately, he explained that these persons are considered prisoners of war only on the territory controlled by one of the parties to the international military conflict, that is, the Russian Federation.

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As reported, on June 9, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry summoned Hungary’s chargé d'affaires asking him to provide detailed information about the Ukrainian POWs handed over by Russia to Budapest and to immediately ensure consular access to them.

It was also reported that the Ukrainian government had never been informed about the relevant negotiations being held between the Hungarian and Russian parties. The Ukrainian side found out about the fact that Russia handed over 11 Ukrainians "of Hungarian origin" to Budapest from the public statements of the Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary Zsolt Semjen to the Hungarian mass media.

With the assistance of the Embassy of Ukraine in Hungary, three Ukrainian citizens from among the prisoners of war handed over to Hungary returned to Ukraine. On June 23, another two Ukrainian soldiers made it Ukraine, according to the spokesperson for the Ukrainian MFA, Oleg Nikolenko.