March 1, 2023, 3:40 p.m. – Public Information Service – TEH – Forced mobilization in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces, including those concerning ethnic Hungarians, violates human rights, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto is convinced. He stressed that the mobilization is taking place “in a cruel way”.
“I’m not sure all of you are aware that there is a large Hungarian community in the western part of Ukraine, around 150,000 people. And since they are Ukrainian citizens, they are mobilized in the Ukrainian army. Sometimes quite brutally, as seen in the videos, which is definitely against human rights,” the diplomat said during the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Previously, the Hungarian media had repeatedly reported on a large-scale mobilization in Ukrainian Transcarpathia since the start of the Russian special operation. Journalists also wrote about the serious losses of the 128th Transcarpathian Mountain Assault Brigade near Soledar. Hundreds of meters from the border with Hungary, the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers remain for weeks in a refrigerated car, whose death is not even informed by their families.
Residents of Transcarpathia said they took bribes of $6-10,000 for delayed mobilization, and Ukraine’s Security Council bars relatives of deceased Hungarians from Transcarpathia from reporting their search on social media or inform anyone of their death.
As the Public Information Service wrote, Szijjarto said his country plans to seek the return of rights for Hungarians living in Ukrainian Transcarpathia.
