Crowds March To Russian Embassy In Budapest As Ukraine War Nears Fourth Year

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief reporting from Budapest, Hungary

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Crowds marched to the Russian Embassy in Budapest on Sunday to mark nearly four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a war that is believed to have caused nearly 2 million military casualties.

Civil organizations organized the protest ahead of the fourth anniversary of the invasion, which began on February 24, 2022, when tens of thousands of Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory.

The war has caused close to 2 million military casualties — killed, wounded, or missing — between Russian and Ukrainian forces, according to a recent assessment by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The CSIS analysis estimates that combined Russian and Ukrainian casualties may be as high as 1.8 million and could reach 2 million total casualties by the spring of 2026 if current trends continue. The figures refer to military losses, not civilian deaths.

Separately, United Nations monitors have verified nearly 15,000 civilian deaths since 2022, though the U.N. says the actual number is likely considerably higher.

Since the war broke out, Hungary has hosted roughly 60,000 Ukrainian refugees, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. Millions more crossed Hungarian territory on their way to other European countries, U.N. data show.

Up to 1,000 people, including Ukrainian refugees and Hungarian supporters, gathered in Hungary’s capital to recall what many describe as Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II and to demand an end to hostilities.

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Near the Russian Embassy, participants in Sunday’s rally sang the Ukrainian national anthem and gathered beside a makeshift memorial for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian Arctic prison colony in February 2024. His death prompted widespread accusations from Western leaders that the Kremlin bore responsibility.

A large banner carried by demonstrators read: “20,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia,” followed by the message: “Protect Future Generations.”

In central Budapest, at Madách Square, an outdoor exhibition titled “The Invisible Wounds of Ukrainian Childhood” commemorated victims of the war. The display featured drawings by children who have lost family members in the conflict.

Several Ukrainian participants said they felt welcomed by ordinary Hungarians but acknowledged that Hungary’s government is widely viewed as maintaining close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

UKRAINIANS DISTINGUISH PEOPLE FROM POLITICS

“Wherever Ukrainian refugees arrived, they were welcomed with love here in Hungary — near the border, here in Budapest, and in many other places. Orbán and the Hungarian people are not the same,” one Ukrainian woman said.

The Budapest City Council and Ukraine’s embassy in Budapest also held a joint commemoration in City Hall Park.

Sándor Fegyir, Ukraine’s ambassador to Budapest, accused Russia of mass violations of international law and war crimes and warned that Moscow’s actions threaten other European states and the NATO military alliance.

“It is very important that we stand up for our Ukrainian friends, who are fighting not only for their own freedom, but for the possibility of a just peace in Europe,” Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony said.

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Karácsony criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, accusing him of fueling tensions through what he described as pro-Russia positions and anti-Ukraine rhetoric ahead of the April 12 parliamentary elections.

“This is an elemental national interest. Fidesz is running a propaganda campaign on an issue that fundamentally affects all of Europe and Hungary — that is a disgrace,” the mayor added.

Hungarians at the rally said they feel a historical obligation to stand with Ukraine, recalling how Soviet troops crushed Hungary’s 1956 Revolution.

However, Alexandra Szentkirályi, leader of the ruling Fidesz faction in Budapest, defended the government’s stance.

FIDESZ DEFENDS GOVERNMENT POSITION

She said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “refuses to reopen” the Druzhba (“Friendship”) oil pipeline delivering Russian crude to Hungary and argued that ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine “are being forcibly conscripted into the Ukrainian army and dying in the war.”

Szentkirályi accused the mayor of apologizing to Ukraine on behalf of the Hungarian government despite what she described as Kyiv’s alleged wrongdoing.

Ukraine’s government has denied responsibility for damage to the Druzhba pipeline, saying Russian military attacks caused the disruption. Kyiv has also rejected allegations of abuses against ethnic Hungarians.

As the war approaches its fourth year, demonstrators in Budapest said they hoped remembrance and solidarity would help prevent further bloodshed in a conflict that continues to reshape Europe’s political and security landscape.

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