Over 100 thousand Hungarians might permanently leave Ukraine due to the war
Gábor László Vasárus, a Hungarian geographer, analysed the social and geographical reasons and results of the war in Ukraine. At the joint event of the Hungarian Humanist Association and the Grand Café of Szeged, he said that Ukraine’s geography and weather hinder Russian advancement. He added that Hungary should calculate multiple economic effects, and Hungarians living in Ukraine might leave Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) forever.
Successful pro-Ukrainian campaigns
According to telex.hu, Vasárus said that Ukraine had the third biggest nuclear arsenal in the world after the fall of the Soviet Union. Kyiv disarmed them in return for Russian, British and US guarantees regarding its territorial integrity. He highlighted that the past decades of Ukraine were not a success story. Its population decreased from 52 million to 41.5 million.
Regional differences remained. The east, where the Russian minority lives, is still more developed than the west. However, society has been decaying in the east, the abortion numbers are high, and alcoholism is a significant issue. Based on surveys, one out of three high school students regularly drinks alcohol. Interestingly, Kyiv’s pro-Ukrainian propaganda was effective among them in the last few years. As a result, most Russians in Ukraine support Kyiv more than Moscow. That is what President Putin often calls Nazism.
Crimea’s Russian population did not turn against the Russian invaders in 2014, but that pro-Moscow behaviour disappeared in Kharkiv or Mariupol this February and March.
Hills aid Ukrainians
Vasárus said that Ukraine’s geography and weather baulk the advancement of the Russian troops. The majority of Ukraine is hilly, covered by huge forests helping guerrillas. Because of the mud, only the main roads are passable and Russian convoys are hard to protect there. Suburban regions are difficult to occupy for the Russians since Ukrainian forces can easily defend the small, meandering streets.
The economic consequences will be severe, Vasárus cleared. Hungary should expect a lack of grain and cooking oil. The price rise will be positive for the Hungarian agricultural sector but disadvantageous for the consumers. In the construction sector, the decreasing Ukrainian wood export might cause problems.
Hungarians to permanently leave Transcarpathia, Ukraine?
Vasárus said that it might happen Transcarpathian Hungarians would permanently leave Ukraine because of Putin’s war. Already millions have left the war-stricken country to save their own and their families’ lives. If the Russian attacks reach Transcarpathia, it can happen that the approximately 120 thousand Hungarians will leave the country forever – KárpátHír said.
Read alsoIs Orbán really Putin’s lapdog? Here is what Hungary does and does not do for Ukraine
Source: telex.hu, KárpátHír
I think that the DNH needs to be a bit more careful with its terminology. The word ‘disappear’ in the context of people en masse is usually used in relation to people that are missing, presumed dead, at the hands of a government and its secret police as in what took place in Chile under General Pinochet. The people discussed in the article may leave Ukraine, possibly on a permanent basis, but they will most certainly not ‘disappear’.