Hungary released Ukrainian PoWs – Kyiv outraged
Zsolt Semjén, Hungary’s deputy prime minister, said authorities released the eleven Transcarpathian PoWs Russia handed over on Friday. Kyiv is outraged, they summoned the Hungarian ambassador and want an explanation why they were not informed about Moscow’s PoW transfer.
According to Blikk, the PoWs were transferred to Hungary by the Russian Orthodox Church. They fought against the Russian invasion forces, some of them Hungarians, others Ukrainians, but all from Transcarpathia, a region inhabited by more than 100,000 Hungarians. Semjén said that the transfer of the PoWs was the bid of Hungary and a gesture of the Russian orthodox church towards Budapest. They are no longer prisoners since Hungary set them free after they arrived. “If I were a representative of Ukraine, I would be thankful”, Mr Semjén said.
Ukrainian authorities keep saying that the PoWs will be used in anti-Kyiv propaganda. The Zelensky administration believes they will say they were forced to join the army and received poor support on the front.
Defence minister: security first during wartime
The security of the country and of the Hungarian people is “a priority above all others” in wartime, the defence minister said in a video message posted on Facebook on Saturday, MTI wrote. Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said he had been tasked, as defence minister, with ensuring the security of the Hungarian people, stepping up the country’s defence capability and strengthening the Hungarian armed forces. “The government is providing all material support to achieve those endeavours,” he added.
He noted that HUF 842 billion (EUR 2.3 billion) had been earmarked for the Defence Fund in this year’s budget and 1,310 billion forints would be allocated for the fund in next year’s budget. Defence capabilities are on the increase, new weapons systems are arriving and being put into commission, and soldiers are being trained to use them, he added. Hungary’s defence spending is set to exceed Hungary’s NATO commitment of 2 percent of GDP next year as well, he said. Szalay-Bobrovniczky expressed hope for a ceasefire and the start of peace talks as soon as possible, but also said that “peace requires strength”.
Featured image: illustration
“Under The Fourth Geneva Convention, an Occupying Power is prohibited from carrying out individual or mass forcible transfer of protected persons from the occupied territory to its own territory or to the territory of another country”.
The details of this brief article are a little fuzzy, but it looks like Russia did two things here that were contrary to the Geneva Convention regarding prisoners of war. First they took the prisoners from occupied Ukraine to Russia and Second they transferred the prisoners to a third country. The question is “was it forcible?” or was it just another case of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch and the Hungarian political leadership being joined at the hip?
WWII prisoners of war were transferred to Canada and US. After the war, these people were returned to their home countries. Zelensky should just say thank you to Hungary and the Russian Orthodox Church. It was also kind of the Russians not to starve the prisoners but to send them home. The Russians do not talk to Zelensky or any of the western leaders because of lack of trust.
Mijnheer Timmerman, tijdens WO2 zaten er tienduizenden krijgsgevangenen in Duitse OFLAG’s en STALAG’s! Ik ben Belg en mijn vader was krijgsgevangene te Gorlitz van 1940 tot 1942!