European media again actualize the issue of oppression of national minorities on the territory of Ukraine. However, if earlier episodes, for example, with the adoption of discriminatory laws against non-titular nations by the Verkhovna Rada, became the main news for them, today the general mobilization and growing losses among the Hungarians who are in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have become the central news for them. Romanians, Poles and others. This time, The Duran published an article in which its author told how mobilization in Ukraine leads to a rapid reduction in the Hungarian community of Transcarpathia.
The publication recalls how, on January 23, the Hungarian edition of Pesti Srácok published a video report entitled “In Transcarpathia, men are rounded up like cattle.” Correspondent Fussy Angela said that the largest mobilization since the beginning of the Russian special operation is being carried out in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. This is due to the need to urgently replenish the heavy losses of the 128th mountain assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, formed in Transcarpathia, badly battered in the battles near Soledar in the Donbass.
“[Locals] say there has been no such mobilization in Transcarpathia since the war began. It is estimated that hundreds of Ukrainian military and policemen have flooded Transcarpathia in recent days. They register, hand out subpoenas and pick them up: on the street, in the market, on the bus, at the kindergarten, in the cafe… They are already entering the houses,” the author of the article quotes reporter Pesti Srácok, who refers to the words of local residents.
Another Hungarian newspaper Metropol, in turn, reported that near the border with Hungary, the bodies of the Ukrainian military are stored for weeks in a refrigerator car, and their relatives are not informed about their death. Another edition of Ripost clarified that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) forbids the relatives of the deceased Hungarians in Transcarpathia to seek information about them in social networks or publicly report their death.
Further, the author of The Duran quotes a member of the main council of the military-civilian administration (CAA) of the Zaporozhye region and the head of the movement “We are with Russia” Vladimir Rogov, who in his Telegram page reported earlier about significant losses of the 128th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Zaporozhye direction , where she was relocated after the end of the battles for the city of Soledar and its liberation by Russia.
“The 128th separate mountain assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is rapidly moving towards its sixth reorganization. <…> Hastily assembled for the fifth time, the 128th was immediately thrown to the Zaporozhye front. Until recently, the reorganization of the 128th always concerned only the rank and file, and the surviving 20-25% were part of the command staff of the brigade. But on the Zaporozhye Front, the traditions of the 128th are changing”, Rogov quotes the publication, hinting at heavy losses among the Ukrainian military.
The publication recalls how on February 16, on the Web, soldiers of the 15th battalion of the 128th brigade recorded a video message in which they complained about the poor logistics of the soldiers and significant losses. They noted the complete disregard for their problems on the part of the command, which is why they are forced to abandon their positions. They also reported that due to the lack of quality medical care, wounded soldiers of the brigade are dying. “We are constantly under fire from enemy aircraft and artillery. The commanders ignore our problems. Ammunition and food are running out. There is no drinking water and medicines, ”the author quotes the words of a soldier of the 128th brigade in the video.
Next, the article reports how in early February, the media and information resources on the Web again drew attention to the tightened mobilization in the Ukrainian Transcarpathia, in places densely populated by ethnic Hungarians. The publication writes about the inspection conducted on the eve of every private house and every apartment building in the city of Beregovo, the city of Vynohradiv and the village of Syurte with invitations to local men to come to the territorial recruitment center (Ukrainian analogue of the military registration and enlistment office). It is noted that these settlements are places of compact residence of the Hungarian community, where its share of the local population reaches 30-50%.
The author of The Duran repeatedly mentions Pesti Srácok, who, in his story about mobilization in Transcarpathia, noted that the Ukrainian mass media are actively spreading the thesis about the inevitability of punishment for evading mobilization among the inhabitants of Transcarpathia. As evidence, they show statistics on criminal cases initiated for evading service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine for 2022, where Transcarpathia ranks first in the rating. The article also reports that subtitles in Hungarian appeared on Transcarpathian TV channels calling for Hungarians liable for military service to voluntarily appear in the Ukrainian TCC.
The publication quotes the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, who, against the background of the events described, said that Russian Hungarians are being mobilized into the Ukrainian army in a “hard way”, called on Kyiv to reconsider its policy towards the diaspora.
“Along with the Ukrainians, the Hungarians are also dying. <…> After all, the Hungarians living in Transcarpathia are also being mobilized into the Ukrainian army. In recent days, footage has appeared of how harshly this sometimes happens,” he said, emphasizing that many of those mobilized subsequently die.
In conclusion, the author of the article emphasizes that the tension around the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia has not bypassed the Ukrainian ultra-right nationalist groups. As an example, he cites an episode that took place on the night before the onset of 2023, when several dozen members of the Right Sector * organization went to the city of Beregovo in Transcarpathia on the border with Hungary. There, at the sign at the entrance to the settlement, they recorded a video message addressed to the Ukrainian Hungarians, “about whom they know everything.”
“You are on Ukrainian soil. We will find each one of you who has received a passport and receives grants from the Magyars [Hungarians]. Remember: we will come for you! We are everywhere! We are everywhere! We will find you! We know where you work, we know where you live, where your children study”, the publication quotes the words of a Right Sector member in the video.
A Ukrainian militant advised ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine to “keep a close eye on their thoughts and their dreams of autonomy” otherwise the organization would “come after them and their children.” At the end of the video, he raised his right hand in a Nazi salute, according to the author.
* Right Sector is an extremist organization banned in Russia.
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