Transfer of 11 POWs to Hungary has turned into "political detective story" – Ukraine's Defence Intelligence
Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence has stated that eleven Ukrainian prisoners of war were not released after the Russians handed them over to Hungary.
Source: Andrii Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, on Radio Liberty
Quote: "There is information, including from several prisoners’ families, that they were not actually released all this time. They were held under supervision, with limited contact and communication. Communication with relatives was only possible in the presence of third parties, and limited."
Details: Yusov said that Ukraine now has a preliminary list of the prisoners of war who were transferred to Hungary, but cannot confirm their identities.
Under international law, Yusov explained, this should have been done by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which, in turn, should have been provided with information by the aggressor state, i.e. Russia, and the other state that is the signatory to all agreements, including the Geneva Convention, i.e. Hungary.
However, even the aggressor state is not officially reporting anything. The Russian Ministry of Defence has not confirmed the transfer.
Yusov said the Ukrainian side was aware of the special Russian operation to transfer the Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary even before the official announcement. Kyiv had requested confirmation or denial of this information, but Budapest denied the operation was going ahead.
Quote: "We are dealing with a very strange case, to put it mildly, as in many other cases concerning international law and the aggressor state. We are waiting for official confirmation, for access to probably 11 Ukrainian defenders.
We have a preliminary list, however, obtained from various sources, including operational channels. We cannot call it official. There is a list of the people whom Hungary requested from Russia a few months ago – there were 13 names on it. There is a list of, probably, the 11 who have been handed over.
The fact that we are discussing this situation at all is very unfortunate, because an event that could have been wholly positive is turning into a kind of dramatic detective story with very tangible political overtones, primarily on the part of Russia, which is conducting a psyop... We need to get in touch with everyone, and the families need to communicate with all those released. This has not happened yet."
Background:
- The Russian Orthodox Church reported that on 8 June, "within the framework of inter-church cooperation" and at the request of the Hungarian side, a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war of Transcarpathian origin who had participated in military operations on the side of Ukraine had been transferred to Hungary.
- Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, who oversaw the agreements with the Russians, later confirmed this information.
- The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the Ukrainian government had not been informed about the negotiations between the Hungarian and Russian sides. The Hungarian chargé d'affaires was summoned to the ministry to explain. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry stressed that the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war is "always good news".
- Media outlets learned that the release of the 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war and their transportation to Hungary could have been a personal initiative of Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén that no one else in the government knew about.
- Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said that the conditions of residence for the Ukrainian prisoners transferred from Russia to Hungary are such that they cannot be described as having free status, and the Hungarian side is not engaged in a constructive dialogue with Kyiv on this issue.
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