Szijjártó Says That Hungary Is Not Involved in Repatriation of Ukrainian Prisoners of War from Russia

Hungary is not involved in the repatriation of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war who are currently in Hungary.

According to Index, during his speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó commented on the situation with Ukrainian prisoners and said, "I think it's good news that they are free."

He claims that the transfer of Ukrainians to Hungary took place after "discussions between the church and religious organisations in which the Hungarian state did not participate."

"These people are free to move within Hungary; they are free to do what they want," says Szijjártó.

He added that the transferred prisoners can contact the Ukrainian authorities "if they want to."

On June 19, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated the conditions of detention of Ukrainian captives transferred to Hungary from Russia do not allow for considering them as having a free status, and the Hungarian side is not engaging in constructive dialogue with Kyiv on this matter.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba noted, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán personally expressed interest in the repatriation of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia to Hungary.

At the same time, Orbán's administration claimed that they had allegedly informed Kyiv about the transfer of Ukrainian prisoners to Hungary when it happened and that they ceased to be prisoners upon arrival in Hungary.

Unofficially, there has been information that the release of the 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war and their transportation to Hungary could have been a personal initiative of Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, about which no one else in the government was aware.