Another ethnic Hungarian soldier from Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region has been killed in the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has now been going on for almost 500 days, the Hungarian-language Ukrainian news portal Kárpátaljai Igaz Szó reports.
Last week, Béla Bojza died in a hospital in Herszon following an injury. The 44-year-old soldier was a resident of the village of Rát in the Ung province and was mobilized in February this year, close friends of the victim said. The second hero from the Szürte district left behind a young daughter.
In the war that broke out on Feb. 24 last year, the Hungarian news portal learned there were already nearly 30 identified Hungarian victims in Transcarpathia; however, the actual figure is believed to be much higher. About 400 soldiers of Hungarian origin from Transcarpathia are serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Previously, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán placed the number of ethnic Hungarians who died fighting for Ukraine in the hundreds.
The exact number of casualties is treated as a war secret in Ukraine, and the authorities promise to publish the details of the casualty lists once the war is over.
Since the outbreak of the war, there is hardly a day without a funeral in Transcarpathia. In Ungvár (Uzhhorod in Ukrainian), another military funeral took place on July 4, when Ivan Zavolysky was escorted to his final resting place.
Another Hungarian language portál, Kárpátalja Ma, reported on the burial of Zavolysky, who had raised his two daughters alone after the death of his wife. He is now being mourned by his orphaned children. Almost at the same time, there was also news of the death of Pavlo Baszaraba, a soldier from Kaszomeza in the Riho district.
Meanwhile, a wife, two sons and grandchildren are mourning the death of Valery Polonchik, who was buried in Polanka, in the Municipal District of Muzhiv (formerly the Solyvka district), on July 3.
Unfortunately, these are not isolated incidents; indeed, the Hungarians in Transcarpathia are nearly in constant mourning as the dead stream home.
Research from the Kyiv International Sociological Institute shows that almost four out of five Ukrainians have a close relative or friend who has been injured or died while fighting in the war, with 78 percent of the Ukrainian population saying they have suffered such losses.
Anton Hrusecky, deputy director of the institute, noted that Russia’s war against Ukraine has been a collective tragic experience for the majority of Ukrainians.
