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17 Jul, 20:06

Ukraine readies retaliatory measures after Hungary sanctioned 3 senior military officers

Earlier on Thursday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced that Budapest banned three Ukrainian military commanders from entering the country and asked the European Union to blacklist them as well

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Kiev is preparing retaliatory measures against Budapest for sanctioning three Ukrainian military commanders in charge of compulsory military conscription, after an attempt to call up an ethnic Hungarian led to his death.

"Hungary's decision to ban three Ukrainian military officials from entering its territory is unfounded and absurd," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga said in a post on the ministry’s Telegram channel. "Ukraine reserves the right to take appropriate measures in response."

Earlier on Thursday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced that Budapest banned three Ukrainian military commanders from entering the country and asked the European Union to blacklist them as well. According to Ukrainian news reports, the individuals in question are Vitaly Tkachenko, head of the personnel department at the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command Headquarters; Vladimir Shvedyuk, commander of the Operational Command West; and Roman Yuzvenko, head of the the Defense Ministry’s mobilization department.

According to the Hungarian authorities, a 45-year-old resident of Transcarpathia, Jozsef Szebestien was grabbed on the street in mid-June by Ukrainian security forces and forcibly taken to a recruitment center, where he was severely beaten for refusing to enlist. On July 6, he died of his injuries in the hospital and was buried in in his hometown three days later. The circumstances of his death were recounted on social media by his relatives.

The Hungarian government called for holding the culprits to account and asked the EU to impose sanctions against the people in charge of compulsory mobilization in Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said a country where people are beaten to death during compulsory conscription can’t be members of the European Union.