Russian church plans to transfer more Ukrainian POWs from Russia to Hungary
The so-called Russian Orthodox Church or ROC plans to take another group of Ukrainianprisoners of war from Russia to Hungary, Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov told Radio Svoboda on July 14.
Yusov noted that these “transfers” are managed by the Russian special services, while ROC representatives negotiate with Hungary.
Read also: Ukrainian ombudsman accuses Hungary of violating international law by holding Ukrainian POWs
He also confirmed that there is no list with specific names of prisoners of war: they are being sought both in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Ethnic Hungarian origin is a “mandatory element” however.
Meanwhile, Ukraine still has no contact with some of the Ukrainian soldiers that were recently handed over to Hungary, and knows nothing about their health condition or whether they can really move freely, Yusov said.
Read also: Hungary preparing psyop to discredit Ukraine over prisoner swap, claims Ukrainian ombudsman
Those who were repatriated claimed they had been subject to pressure from the Russian special services, he added.
The RBC-Ukraine news agency reported on July 13 that Hungary plans to take another group of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia with the “mediation” of ROC, but without the participation of Kyiv.
Ukrainian POWs in Hungary – What is known
The ROC announced on June 8 that it had handed over a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary. The following day, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate stated that it had not received this information and was in the process of verifying it.
Subsequently, Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén confirmed the transfer of the Ukrainian POWs, who were residents of Ukraine’s Zakarpattya Oblast. Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressing its lack of knowledge about negotiations between Budapest and Moscow, requested detailed information about the released Ukrainians and a meeting with the temporary chargé d’affaires of Hungary.
Oleh Kotenko, the authorized representative for missing persons, announced on June 16 that Ukraine had determined the locations and identities of 11 of its soldiers.
Read also: Ukrainian POWs not freed after handover to Hungary — intelligence spokesman
According to sources quoted by the Hungarian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the transfer might have been a personal initiative of Semjén, unknown to the rest of the Hungarian government.
On June 19, Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said that the information received from relatives of some prisoners of war indicates that the Hungarian authorities’ assurances about the allegedly free status of Ukrainian fighters in Hungary are not true.
As of June 23, Ukraine had repatriated five of the POWs, while another six remained in Hungary.
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