"Ukrainian prisoners of war" have been handed over to Hungary, announced the Russian Orthodox Church which served as an intermediary, Kiev regretting this Friday, June 9 not to have been involved in the negotiations.
The transfer took place on Thursday "with the blessing" of Patriarch Kirill, "within the framework of cooperation between churches and at the request of the Hungarian side," the Moscow Patriarchate said in a statement, invoking "Christian humanity."
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"A gesture of the Russian Orthodox Church"
The group hails from Transcarpathia, a region in western Ukraine that is home to a large Magyar community, according to the same source. "This is a gesture of the Russian Orthodox Church towards Hungary, these people owe it their freedom," Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen, in charge of religious affairs, told the atv.hu website. He declined to give details "to protect the interests of the persons concerned." Contacted by AFP, the government had not responded immediately.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban maintains contact with the Kremlin and has forged strong ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. It is thanks to his support that Kirill, a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin's military offensive against Ukraine, escaped EU sanctions last year in the name of defending "religious freedom". At the same time, the Hungarian leader has complicated relations with Kiev, which he refuses to help militarily. The quarrel between the two neighbouring countries is not new, with Hungary long castigating a series of laws strengthening the use of the Ukrainian language, which it says to the detriment of the Magyar minority in Transcarpathia.
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While the Ukrainian authorities welcomed "the release of prisoners of war, which is always good news", they regretted having been informed by the media, according to which 11 Ukrainians of Magyar origin would be concerned. The embassy chargé d'affaires was received at the Foreign Ministry for "a substantive conversation," spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Facebook. Kiev requested detailed information on its citizens in order to be able to provide them with consular assistance and "insisted on the need to work cooperatively on such sensitive issues."
The atv.hu website mentioned the possible role of Pope Francis, who multiplies calls for peace in Ukraine, strongly condemning an "absurd and cruel" war. In September 2022, the pontiff said he had played a mediating role with Russia to speed up the release of some 300 Ukrainian prisoners, in an interview published in a Jesuit magazine.
