Vice Prime Minister of Hungary, Jolt Shemyen, confirmed that a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Zakarpattia was transferred to Hungary by Russia at its request on June 8.
This was reported by Radio Liberty.
11 Ukrainian prisoners of war of Hungarian origin could have been sent to Hungary without the knowledge of Kyiv. The Ukrainian side has not officially commented on this information at the moment.
"All this is a gesture of the Russian Orthodox Church towards Hungary, and these people owe their freedom to it," said Jolt Shemyen to atv.hu, without disclosing details.
Earlier, a statement appeared on the website of the ROC.
"On June 8, with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, at the request of the Hungarian side, the Russian Orthodox Church, within the framework of inter-church cooperation, transferred to Hungary a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war of Zakarpattia origin who participated in hostilities," the statement said.
The Ukrainian intelligence is verifying the information regarding the alleged transfer of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the ROC to Hungary, said a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense in a comment to RBC.
Radio Free Europe has reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the statement of the Hungarian side.