The Ukrainian authorities have taken out of Hungary three prisoners handed over by Moscow

The Embassy of Ukraine in Budapest managed to take out three Ukrainian prisoners of war from Hungary, Oleg Nikolenko, a representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported on Facebook on Tuesday.

“Ukrainian diplomats, together with the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and other bodies of Ukraine, continue to take active measures to return home the rest of the Ukrainian defenders who were taken from Russia to Hungary,” writes Nikolenko.

Earlier, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church reported that on June 8, “as part of inter-church cooperation” and “at the request of the Hungarian side,” a group of Ukrainian captive military personnel of Transcarpathian origin was handed over to Hungary. This information was confirmed by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Hungary, Zolt Shemien.

The representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andrey Yusov said on the air of the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty earlier on Tuesday that after the transfer of Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary by the Russian side, they were not released. Yusov referred to information, including that of relatives of several prisoners. According to this information, the military was under surveillance, and contacts and communication with them were limited.

The representative of Ukrainian intelligence also noted that now Ukraine has a preliminary list of prisoners of war handed over to Hungary, but he cannot confirm them. “There is a list of those persons about whom Hungary asked Russia several months ago – there were 13 names. There is a list of probably eleven prisoners who were handed over,” Andrey Yusov said. In general, he called the whole situation “a dramatic detective story with a tangible political undertone”, adding that the Ministry of Defense of Russia did not confirm the fact of the transfer of prisoners, and Budapest, in response to Kiev’s requests to all officials, denied the operation.

According to the information of the Russian state agency TASS, the head of the office of the prime minister of Hungary, Gergey Guyász, said on June 19 that eleven Ukrainian prisoners of war from Zakarpattia, transferred to Hungary from Russia, are on Hungarian territory and are no longer considered prisoners of war, having the opportunity to decide their own future, including choice of residence.

• Hungary is the only EU country that blocks the most painful sanctions against Russia for the full-scale invasion of the Russian army into Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is known as one of the few friends and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Europe.
• The relations between Kyiv and Budapest cooled noticeably after the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine. Budapest accused Kyiv of oppressing the Hungarian ethnic minority in western Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities accuse Viktor Orban’s government of handing out passports to Transcarpathia and close cooperation with the Kremlin.