Hungary will continue to automatically offer asylum to Ukrainian men of military age (25-60 years), even though the countries of the European Union agreed in July that Ukrainian men who could be mobilized into the army should no longer be able to obtain refugee status in these countries, announced Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar on Thursday.
“The Hungarian government has decided to reserve the right to grant refugee status to military-aged (Ukrainian) men fleeing the country,” said Prime Minister Peter Magyar in front of the press in Budapest, according to EFE and Agerpres agencies. Magyar clarified that this decision was made because there are ethnic Hungarians fleeing from the Ukrainian region of Transcarpathia to Hungary.
Invoking “Ukraine’s defense needs” in the war with Russia, EU countries agreed in July to grant asylum to Ukrainian men only if they have fulfilled their military obligations in their country, after numerous men managed to leave Ukraine despite the ban on leaving the country imposed as part of the mandatory mobilization measures.
The situation of the Hungarian community in Ukraine, which numbers approximately 100,000 people, most of them settled in the Transcarpathia region (western Ukraine), has been a source of diplomatic friction between the two neighboring countries for many years, with Budapest accusing Kiev of not respecting the rights of ethnic minorities.
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