Three POWs released by Russia return to Ukraine from Hungary

INA-  sources 

Ukraine said Wednesday that three prisoners of war released by Russia and transferred to Hungary had been returned to Ukraine, but criticized Budapest for hampering the process.

The European Union meanwhile said it would demand an explanation from Hungary, a member of the bloc.

Earlier this week, Ukraine said Hungary was barring access for Ukrainian officialsattempting to make contact with 11 former prisoners of war handed over to Budapest by Moscow.



The incident is the latest to add tension in the relationship between Ukraine and Hungary, which has maintained ties with Moscow despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“I confirm that three former prisoners of war have returned to Ukraine,” Ukraine’s rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on local television.

He accused Hungary of pandering to Russia both by barring access to some of the prisoners and said that Budapest had carried out the transfer with Russia “covertly.”

“I interpret Hungary’s actions as a violation of international humanitarian law,” he added.

Hungary has denied barring Ukraine’s access to the former prisoners of war.

The EU said that any liberation of Ukrainian citizens should be coordinated with Kyiv.

“It’s for the authorities of Hungary to explain the details on the role that Hungary played in the liberation of Ukrainian citizens from Russia,” EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano told reporters in Brussels.

“The European Commission will ask the Hungarian authorities for more detailed information.”

The Russian Orthodox Church said earlier this month that a group of Ukrainians from Transcarpathia -- a region home to an ethnic Hungarian minority -- had been transferred to Budapest.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief-of-staff Gergely Gulyas said this week that Budapest had informed the Ukrainian authorities about the transfer after the 11 soldiers arrived in Hungary.

Hungary did not legally consider the individuals to be prisoners of war because they were released in Russia, he told reporters.

The returnees were free to leave the country whenever they wanted, Gulyas added.

He said those among the group who did not have Hungarian citizenship had been given refugee status.

Due to a long-running feud with Kyiv over minority rights in the Transcarpathian region, Budapest has also vowed to hold up Kyiv’s bids for EU and NATO membership.

Source: ALARABIYA