Hungarian Conservative

In a January article published in the Transcarpathian paper Magyar Szó, Ungvár (Uzhorod) Consul László Kuti spoke about 12 Hungarian soldiers having fallen—the Hungarian Foreign Ministry provides financial aid to the families of all Hungarian victims of the war. However, estimates have put the number closer to 100 recently.

After a local-level decision ordered the removal of Hungarian national flags from school buildings in Transcarpathian settlements, MFA State Secretary Tamás Menczer demanded that the measure be revoked.

As long as legal harassment, inter-ethnic conflicts, economic hardships and—on top of all that—war plague the Hungarians in Ukraine, their survival can only be assured by the heroic perseverance we have seen in them countless times before.

The past will not be annulled by short-sighted and counterproductive acts like the removal of the turul statue. What those acts do, however, is demonstrate to Hungarians that despite all the good will, aid, and political support bestowed on their neighbours, there is not much good to expect from Ukraine when it comes to its ethnic minorities and friendly neighbourly relations.