Ukraine condemns Hungary's involvement in release of two Ukrainian-Hungarian POWs from Russian captivity

Ukraine has condemned the Hungarian administration for negotiating the release of two Transcarpathian prisoners of war who were in Russian captivity. Kyiv considers this a violation of the Geneva Convention and illegal cooperation with Russia, the aggressor in the war, Unian reports. The men's release and transfer to Hungary was announced by Péter Szijjártó following his talks in Moscow, which focused partly on oil supplies and partly on the ethnic Hungarian POWs from Transcarpathia.

Ukrainian authorities had already indicated on Wednesday that they were awaiting information on the fate of their citizens who had been mobilized to fight on the Ukrainian side in the war started by Russia.

While both men hold Hungarian citizenship in addition to their Ukrainian citizenship, Ukraine does not recognize dual citizenship, so from Kyiv's point of view, they are considered purely Ukrainian citizens, and therefore no other country has jurisdiction over their case without Ukraine's request.

According to a statement by the Coordination Center for Prisoners of War (KSPPV) established by the Ukrainian government, the way in which Hungary and Russia handled the transfer without Ukraine's involvement

• violates international humanitarian law;
• violates the Geneva Convention regarding the legal status of prisoners of war;
• aims to damage relations between two European countries, Ukraine and Hungary;
• is a Russian provocation and, on the part of Hungary, constitutes the indirect support of Russian aggression;
• and is an act that could be classified by an international court as participation in Russian aggression.

"We demand that all participants in this provocation abandon their intentions and refrain from trading Ukrainian soldiers captured as a result of Russian aggression for small change," the statement, posted on Telegram reads. They also demand that Ukraine be given official information about the condition of its citizens as soon as possible and that the country's “official representative be allowed to meet with the defenders of the homeland as soon as possible.”

When asked about the ethnic Hungarian POWs released from Russian captivity and Ukraine's request for information on them, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás said that “Naturally, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will not receive any information.”

There was a similar operation in 2023, when Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, president of the KDNP, secured the release of 11 prisoners of war (all Hungarians from Transcarpathia) through his connections with the Russian Orthodox Church. Some of them have since returned to the front lines to fight on Ukraine's side against Russian forces.