Another ethnic Hungarian has fallen victim at the frontline in Ukraine. István Huszti, a resident of the Korolevo settlement in the Beregszás district, lost his life in battles against Russian forces, wrote Kárpát Hír, citing the Transcarpathian news portal Mukachevo.
The soldier was mortally wounded while performing a combat mission. Official information about the soldier’s return home date, as well as details of the farewell and funeral, will be provided to relatives and the community at a later date.
Hungary has long shed light on Ukraine’s highly controversial forced conscription practices, especially when it has involved ethnic Hungarians living in western Ukraine, known as Transcarpathia, a region once part of the Kingdom of Hungary before the Treaty of Trianon after WW I.
Just last month, Remix News wrote about a 42-year-old father of five, including two minors, being ripped off the streets by Ukrainian recruiters, despite having a medical military exemption due to a heart and lung condition.
In February, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that the Hungarian government will assist ethnic Hungarians being forced to the frontlines in Ukraine if it involves recruiters stepping foot on Hungarian territory.
This stance came after more stories of ethnic Hungarians possibly being targeted to serve as cannon fodder on Ukraine’s frontlines. Another story involved a Hungarian man described by relatives as mentally unwell, who was allegedly seized from outside his home in Transcarpathia. He is now listed as missing.
One of the most highlighted cases was that of 45-year-old József Sebestyén, shown in a disturbing video crawling in a military camp, visibly injured, as others mocked him. He was later hospitalized and died after reportedly being transferred to a mental hospital used for wounded soldiers.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó at the time posted a message to Facebook, slamming Kyiv for its state-run brutality. By refusing to investigate the death of József Sebestyén, Ukrainian authorities had “effectively acknowledged” that forced conscription, including beatings and even killings, was “a state-institutionalized, accepted, ordered and state-managed process.”
“In a civilized, normal country, there is an immediate prosecution, the perpetrators are immediately caught and their bosses, who approved it, are immediately imprisoned, and this practice is stopped,” Szijjártó said.
The foreign minister has also negotiated the return of two PoWs from Moscow.
While no official data is available, reports indicate that at least 100 ethnic Hungarians, mostly from the Transcarpathia region, have died fighting for Ukraine against Russia.
