Each time Daryna Koryagina enters her Budapest flat rented to her by a Hungarian good friend, she sees the identical sticker on a wardrobe inside the doorway.

"Sorry about our prime minister," it reads.

The 33-year-old refugee and PhD pupil is one in all tens of 1000’s of Ukrainians who fled Russia's full-scale invasion and selected to reside in what many would possibly contemplate an odd alternative — Hungary, the EU's most pro-Russian, anti-Ukraine nation.

"It was a nasty thought to go on Tinder dates with Hungarians," Koryagina advised the Kyiv Unbiased. "They had been throwing round cliches, like 'not every thing is so apparent with Russia' and 'we have to make peace.'

"Thank God, nobody has ever advised me that Ukraine wants to surrender the (Russian-occupied) territories."

However identical to the good friend who rents her the condominium, Koryagina has discovered a major variety of Hungarians eschew the pro-Russian, anti-Ukrainian rhetoric of their nation's chief.

"There are Hungarians who’re extremely supportive of Ukrainians," Koryagina mentioned, including: "Some have a form of inner guilt about the best way their nation is performing throughout these instances."

Hungary's stance on Russia and Ukraine

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, broadly seen because the EU's most pro-Russian chief, has repeatedly opposed army support for Ukraine, arguing that Western assist prolongs the struggle.

He has maintained shut ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, holding official conferences regardless of the full-scale invasion and amplified Kremlin narratives in Europe.

Hungary has used its veto energy to stall key EU selections on Ukraine, together with army support, and is in opposition to Kyiv becoming a member of the bloc.

Hungarian state-run media spreads anti-Ukrainian narratives utilizing headlines equivalent to "Even cholera has not utterly disappeared in Ukraine" and "Ukraine's EU accession may convey a pension catastrophe to Hungary."

In one of many newest governmental ads with the caption "Voks 2025 — vote on Ukraine's EU membership," President Volodymyr Zelensky, EU Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, and European Individuals's Occasion President Manfred Weber had been depicted in entrance of a crimson cross.

"We won’t allow them to resolve over our heads!" the headline learn.

Balazs Trencsenyi, a Hungarian historian and Central European College (CEU) professor, described how Orban leveraged the struggle in Ukraine throughout Hungary's 2022 election marketing campaign.

"The chief of the Hungarian opposition made a press release that was truly very harmless and regular — he mentioned that Hungary would fulfill its NATO duties if wanted," he advised the Kyiv Unbiased.

"Then the federal government press turned it right into a pretend information marketing campaign that he would ship Hungarian troops to Ukraine.

"Because of this, there was an enormous panic within the Hungarian countryside, and individuals who had by no means voted earlier than went to vote for Orban, saying they didn't need their youngsters to be drafted into the military. So truly, Orban gained the election in April 2022 with an anti-Ukraine marketing campaign."

Ukrainian refugees in Hungary

The anti-Ukraine rhetoric of the election marketing campaign coincided with the arrival of greater than 60,000 Ukrainian refugees, a major quantity however far decrease than the thousands and thousands who went to different European international locations equivalent to Germany and Poland.

Other than the message being propagated by the federal government, different components for the low quantity embrace comparatively low social advantages for refugees, amounting to solely 60 euros per thirty days — in Germany, it was 451 euros in 2023 — bureaucratic points and the language barrier.

"If you wish to reside in Budapest, you should work arduous," Nata Holenko, a 40-year-old Ukrainian refugee from Sumy, advised the Kyiv Unbiased. "Ukrainians from large cities or these with high-paying on-line jobs typically come right here."

Holenko left Ukraine in mid-March 2022 together with her two youngsters, aged 4 and 11 on the time, and headed for Budapest, the place her husband was working.

Many refugees who crossed the border at the moment had been greeted by a number of organizations, equivalent to Bona Fide and the Vibrant Daylight Affiliation, that rushed to assist in the aftermath of Russia's full-scale invasion.

"When there was a big inflow of Ukrainians in 2022, it was not solely Ukrainians who got here to the platforms, bus, and practice stations but additionally many Hungarians," Csilla Szlobogyan Kurtyak, co-founder of Bona Fide, advised the Kyiv Unbiased.

"They continue to be in volunteer groups to at the present time, serving to with employment, youngsters's enrollment in academic establishments, and housing," she added.

Olga Petrova, a 37-year-old Ukrainian historian from Yenakiieve, Donetsk Oblast, who moved to Budapest when Russia occupied her residence in 2014, witnessed what number of Hungarians "rushed to assist Ukrainians when the full-scale struggle started."

"Many individuals have clear associations with the occasions in Hungary in 1956, when Soviet tanks violently crushed the Hungarian Revolution," she advised the Kyiv Unbiased.

Hungarian public assist for Ukraine

Regardless of the anti-Ukraine rhetoric of the Orban authorities, pro-Kyiv sentiment among the many public is clear.

In response to an April 13 ballot performed by the celebration of opposition chief Peter Magyar, which acquired over 1.1 million responses, 58.18% of members backed Ukraine's EU accession bid.

A separate April 7 ballot by the Republikon Institute additionally discovered a slender majority of Hungarians in favor of Ukraine becoming a member of the bloc.

And Hungary's capital stays remarkably pro-Ukrainian. Town's mayor, Gergely Karacsony, mentioned in November 2022 that he felt "disgrace" at his nation "siding with Russia," a sentiment that continues to be greater than three years into the struggle.

"The Municipality of Budapest stands firmly by the facet of the victims and people preventing bravely for the liberty of Ukraine," the town's press officer, Naszados Zsofia, advised the Kyiv Unbiased.

Budapest has actively supported Ukrainian refugees by offering monetary help, energy turbines, and free public transportation to Ukrainians.

Town additionally established the 'Budapest Helps' Data and Group Heart to help Ukrainian refugees and arranged summer time camps for kids from war-affected areas.

"If you happen to have a look at Orban's propaganda posters, it paints one image. However in case you look a bit deeper, even some authorities representatives are in solidarity with us," Szlobogyan Kurtyak mentioned, highlighting the 2024 "brother cities" settlement between the Ukrainian metropolis of Lebedyn and Hungary's metropolis of Papa.

"Not all Hungarians are Orban," she added.

Hungarians and the Ukrainian military

Hungarian residents are prohibited by legislation from serving out of the country's armed forces, against the law punishable by as much as 14 years in jail.

However that has not stopped them from offering assist in different methods, serving to to make trench candles for instance, and elevating cash for the Ukrainian military.

In 2022, three Hungarians — Gaspar Kerekes-Nagy, Mihaly Olah, and Balazs Trautmann — based the Carpathian Dragons (Karpataljai Sarkanyellato), which has raised 188 million forints ($528,371) to purchase drones, winter gear, and electrical turbines for Ukraine's Armed Forces.

"Till 2022, Hungarian society had a superficial understanding of Ukraine," Viktoria Petrovska, a Ukrainian who moved to Hungary as a baby and is now head of Yednist, a gaggle that helps refugees and raises funds for the Armed Forces, advised the Kyiv Unbiased.

"Nonetheless, after the outbreak of the struggle, every thing modified, and Hungarians started to actively assist," she mentioned, including that fifty% of the donations to Yednist come from Hungarians. Yednist has raised 44 million forints ($123,539) for the reason that full-scale struggle started.

"Despite the fact that assist has decreased, and politicians are filling Hungarians with the concept Ukraine is at fault for the struggle, many individuals haven’t forgotten about Ukraine," she added.

A handful of Hungarians are even recognized to have defied the legislation and crossed into Ukraine to battle Russia.

Ukraine additionally has the 68th "Zakarpatski Sharkani" volunteer battalion, which pulls upon the big Hungarian minority dwelling in Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast, the place roughly 150,000 ethnic Hungarians resided earlier than the full-scale struggle, in keeping with the 2001 inhabitants census.

As of 2024, the variety of ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia was 70,000-80,000, in keeping with the Division of Nationalities and Religions of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration.

'I simply miss the correct meals'

Koryagina and her dad and mom arrived in Hungary on March 10, 2022, settling in Budapest. She advised the Kyiv Unbiased that she nonetheless sees many Russians on the streets of the capital, saying they’re "beloved right here."

"Hungarians usually don't like foreigners," she provides, saying that though her expertise of dwelling within the nation has been optimistic on the entire, she is usually disillusioned by how she is often handled.

"When exhibiting a Ukrainian passport (to take the bus without cost), you see drivers or controllers making faces. I actually hate exhibiting it. The very best response can be no response," she mentioned.

Koryagina and her household have settled properly in Budapest — she is enrolled in a CEU PhD program, and her mom works within the first Ukrainian-language college in Budapest, which opened in August 2022. However finally all of them wish to return residence to Ukraine.

"I can’t look forward to my research to finish. I simply actually wish to come again," she mentioned.

"I hold going to an excellent overpriced however actually good Ukrainian restaurant with my pals right here as a result of I simply miss the correct meals."

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