DISINFO: Kyiv massively recruits ethnic Hungarians to the army and exterminates the Hungarian language
SUMMARY
Hungarian media write en masse about the conscription of the Hungarian ethnic minority to the Ukrainian army. Budapest calls this genocide and ethnic cleansing. 150,000 ethnic Hungarians in Zakarpattia region are literally hunted. The Hungarian language is exterminated in Ukraine. Instead of Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish are enforced. One hundred Hungarian schools in western Ukraine were closed down.
RESPONSE
A mix of disinformation claims aimed at bringing discord in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations, aiming to confound the reality of Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine.
No factual evidence supports the claim that ethnic Hungarians are disproportionately drafted more often into the Ukrainian army. The Hungarian authorities have not made references to a genocide or ethnic cleansing in this regard. The claim about the forceful introduction of Ukrainian and Polish languages and extermination of the Hungarian language in the Zakarpattya region is likewise false.
A favourite tactic of pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets is to deflect blame by accusing Western countries and Ukraine of the wrongdoings Russia itself commits in Ukraine. Notably, pro-Kremlin outlets also heavily published about imagined aggressive Polish plans towards western Ukraine that can be interpreted as an attempt to sow mistrust between Ukraine and Poland and other Western backers of Kyiv. See the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Hungarian politicians are on the Ukrainian secret services’ death list, that Ukraine is a Western colony belonging to Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Russia, and that Poland plans to establish control over its historical lands in Ukraine.