Ukraine demands release of seven Oschadbank staff detained in Hungary

Ukraine has accused Hungary of effectively taking seven Ukrainian citizens hostage, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

In a statement on X, Sybiha said that Hungarian authorities in Budapest had detained seven Ukrainian nationals, while the reasons for the action, their current condition, and whether they were able to communicate with anyone remained unknown.

According to the minister, all seven individuals are employees of the Ukrainian state-owned bank Oschadbank. They had been travelling in two vehicles belonging to the bank and were transporting cash as part of routine banking operations. The employees were heading back to Ukraine via Austria.

Sybiha said that, in practice, Hungary had detained the Ukrainian citizens and seized the funds they were carrying. He argued that if the incident reflected the “force” mentioned earlier in the day by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, then such force resembled the actions of a criminal gang, describing the situation as state terrorism and racketeering.

The Ukrainian foreign minister added that Kyiv had sent a diplomatic note to Hungary demanding the immediate release of the detained Ukrainian citizens. Ukraine also plans to appeal to the European Union to provide a clear legal assessment of what it characterised as Hungary’s unlawful actions, including hostage-taking and robbery.

By Tamilla Hasanova