Hungary will not return men of military age to Ukraine. Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced this on September 25.

“The Hungarian government will not comply with the request of the Ukrainian government and force someone to return to Ukraine this fall,” he said at a parliamentary meeting.

Orban also said that Hungary will not allocate additional funds to Ukraine to support the country’s armed forces.

Prior to this, the head of government said that Hungary would not support Ukraine’s position at any international forum until Kyiv returned the rights to the Transcarpathian Hungarians.

On September 13, Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Schemien said that the country does not intend to extradite Ukrainians who evade service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). In his opinion, all Ukrainian citizens who live in Hungary are free people.

Martial law came into force in Ukraine in February 2022, while at the same time the law on general mobilization was in force in the country. According to the order, men aged 18 to 60 years old are not allowed to leave the country.