Hungary Bans Ukrainian Officials Amid Row Over Forced Conscription
By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Bureau Chief
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungary has become the first European Union member state to ban three top Ukrainian military officials from entering its territory, accusing them of orchestrating forced conscription campaigns against ethnic Hungarians and others in Ukraine.
In remarks monitored by Worthy News on Saturday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó confirmed that the officials would also be proposed for inclusion on the European Union’s sanctions list.
The officials were identified as Colonel Vitaliy Tkachenko – head of personnel at the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command, Brigadier General Volodymyr Shvedyuk, commander of the Western Operational Command, and Colonel Roman Yuzvenk – chief of the Mobilization Directorate at Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
The announcement came hours after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused the EU of covering up what he described as “a violent campaign of forced conscription” in Ukraine targeting ethnic Hungarians.
In a radio interview with Hungary’s state broadcaster, Orbán claimed EU leaders try to suppress the issue “because it contradicts their narrative that Ukraine is ready for EU membership.”
He described the situation as a “manhunt” for conscripts in Ukraine, alleging that men are being forcibly recruited into the military “on a structural level, not as isolated incidents.”
However, critics have accused Orbán of using the plight of Ukraine’s roughly 100,000 ethnic Hungarians for political reasons, citing his close ties with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
OPEN LETTER
In an open letter obtained by the Worthy News Europe Bureau in Budapest, prominent Hungarians backed by 50,000 signatures, wrote that “We, Hungarian citizens, the signatories of this letter faced with the Orbán government’s increasingly shameful anti-Ukrainian propaganda, express our solidarity with the Ukrainian people and pay tribute to the soldiers of the Ukrainian army who heroically defend their country.
Our message is: ‘there is another Hungary, one that does not expect benefit from serving foreign interests’,” they wrote.
“We unreservedly condemn the Russian military aggression having started in 2014, which grew into open warfare in 2022, and reject the attempt to question Ukraine’s territorial integrity and to interfere in its internal affairs,” they added.
They stressed that as “heirs of the 1956 Hungarian fight for independence,” a revolution crushed by Russian and Soviet soldiers, “we appreciate the service that Ukraine is doing for us Hungarians and the whole of Europe by resisting Russian imperialist expansion.”
The letter writers said that they “are doing our utmost to provide all possible humanitarian assistance to the victims of the war who are seeking refuge in our country. We hope to see the ending of the war as soon as possible, the starting of peace negotiations and an agreement that would provide strong security guarantees for a lasting peace, reparations and accountability for war criminals. We also wish to see the reconstruction of Ukraine begin as soon as possible. The nations of Europe must be united to ensure that a war like this never breaks out on our continent again.”
The letter noted that it is “the vital interest of Hungary that our neighbour should not be a vassal of Putin’s Russia, but an independent democracy providing equal rights for all its citizens, irrespective of language, nationality and religion. We send our letter in the hope that the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, many of whom have given their lives for the freedom of Ukraine, will not fall victim to the politically motivated and shameful communication of the Hungarian government, and that neither the Ukrainian people nor their leaders will question their loyalty but will appreciate their sacrifices.”
The letter was signed by numerous prominent Hungarians, including Géza Jeszenszky, a professor of history who was Hungary’s first foreign minister in a democratically elected government after the collapse of communism in 1989.
Jeszenszky was seriously injured in an assassination attempt that also injured his wife when an assailant attacked with a hammer outside their Budapest home earlier this year.
UKRAINE REACTS
In response to the open letter he and many other Hungarians signed, prominent Ukrainians wrote that they “are touched and inspired to receive it from Hungary and from Hungarians. Especially at this moment.”
“We know that this is the true Hungary, not the other Hungary.”
They said the letter shows the Hungary of revolution heroes and freedom fighters Sándor Petőfi and Imre Nagy.
Yet Orbán has accused the opposition of war mongering. In Friday’s radio interview, Orbán also criticized the proposed EU multi-year budget, claiming it threatens “the life’s work of millions of farmers” across Europe.
He argued the planned mind-boggling 2 trillion euro ($2.3 trillion) EU budget for 2028-2034 is, in reality, a preparatory step toward Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. “Shameful for the Brussels bureaucrats,” Orbán said, adding that anyone who truly understands the region knows Ukraine is nowhere near ready for EU membership.
Critics say that the escalating war of words underscores growing tensions between Budapest and Brussels, as Hungary continues to chart an increasingly pro-Russian course within the EU.
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