Ukraine returns three POWs from Hungary
The Ukrainian Embassy in Budapest was able
to return three Ukrainian
prisoners of war who were handed over to Hungary by Russia without Kyiv's
knowledge, Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said in a Facebook post on
June 20.
According to Nikolenko, the released servicemen are now in Ukraine and are receiving necessary support.
"Ukrainian diplomats, alongside the Coordinating Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and other relevant Ukrainian authorities, are actively working to bring home the remaining Ukrainian defenders who were transferred to Hungary from Russia," Nikolenko said.
On June 8, the Russian Orthodox Church stated it had handed over a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary. The next day, Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate reported that it had not received this information and was in the process of verifying it.
Later, Hungary's Deputy Prime Minister, Zsolt Semjén, confirmed the transfer of the Ukrainian prisoners of war, who were residents of Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast. Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claiming it was not informed about negotiations between Budapest and Moscow, requested detailed information about the released Ukrainians. The ministry also requested a meeting with the temporary chargé d'affaires of Hungary.
On June 16, Oleh Kotenko, the authorized representative for missing persons, announced that Ukraine had determined the locations and identities of 11 defenders.
According to sources quoted by the Hungarian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the prisoner transfer might have been a personal initiative of Semjén, unknown to the rest of Hungary's government.
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