At first glance, the Ukrainian village of Velika Dobron looks completely normal on this bright, sunny spring day, with its main street lined with well-kept houses. However, upon closer inspection, many of these houses appear to be abandoned. There is hardly anyone around, and almost no men of working age in sight.
Velika Dobron is located in the far west of Ukraine, just 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) from the Hungarian border, and almost everyone here is ethnic Hungarian. The Hungarian name of the village is Nagydobrony.
Sandor Ratti, 63, stands in front of a local grocery store and talks to his neighbor. There are deep wrinkles on his forehead. He owns a carpentry workshop, which he runs single-handedly.
“The mood here is very bad,” Rati told DW. Many villagers have moved and lived abroad, and they have not found any traditional people to work with them in the workshop.
A few weeks ago, Rati said, her only son was drafted into the Ukrainian army. A serious blow, as Rati was dependent on the 38-year-old’s help due to health reasons.
His son is currently undergoing military training. “Hopefully he can serve somewhere around here and not have to go to the front lines,” Rati said.
When Ratti was asked about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-Ukraine rhetoric ahead of parliamentary elections and tensions between the two countries, he shook his head. Orban has done a lot for Hungarians in Ukraine, he said.
“But the fact that they are angering Ukraine will not be good for Hungarians living in Ukraine, because they will be angry with us here.”
Orban promotes nationalist, anti-Ukraine rhetoric
Orbán’s nationalist, pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian rhetoric has also targeted Ukraine’s multi-ethnic Transcarpathian region. His government claims that Hungarians are being deprived of their minority rights by the Ukrainian state. It has been claimed that Ukrainian nationalists have carried out attacks on Hungarian facilities, and also said that more ethnic Hungarians than Ukrainians are being recruited and sent to the front lines.
Ahead of Hungary’s parliamentary elections on April 12, Orbán’s campaign apparatus is flooding social media platforms with these and other baseless allegations.
However, the ground reality is completely different. hardly anyone Minorities complain about lack of rights. There is no evidence of Ukrainian nationalists attacking Hungarian minorities. And unlike some places in Romania or Serbia, you won’t see vandalized bilingual place signs or street names in Ukraine.
That said, many ethnic Hungarians in this part of Ukraine are afraid to speak out. This is the case in Velika Dobron, where most people on the street say they would not want to be caught up in this tense moment, and accuse journalists of distorting what is being said.
‘Hurtful’ comments about Ukraine
Mayor Ferenc Nagy, on the other hand, is willing to give an interview. He welcomes guests in his small office in the Town Hall. A Ukrainian and a Hungarian flag adorn a corner of the room. Dozens of thank you letters from the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Ukrainian institutions for various relief efforts and donations hang on the wall.
Negi is a friendly person. The 51-year-old, speaking in a low voice, said he did not want to comment on Orbán’s politics. However, he described the comments describing Ukraine as a “mafia state” as sad.
“I am not a criminal,” Negi said. “I don’t even know any criminals.” He said that instead of defaming others during the election campaign, those contesting the elections should focus on the results.
The mayor said Ukraine’s Hungarian minority does not experience discrimination. However, he would like the Ukrainian language to be taught in a way that suits the needs of non-Ukrainian-speaking children.
Ukraine’s Hungarian minority is shrinking
During a discussion with Negi, it soon becomes clear how bad things have become in Velika Dobron. The mayor said, in the past, the village was doing well and people earned a good living from farming. But, he said, since the start of the Ukraine war in 2014, everything has gone haywire – especially since February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
“More than 6,000 people lived here, now only 2,000 remain. In most cases, the men moved abroad, followed by their wives and children,” Negi said.
The most important thing, he said, is that the war must finally end. Nagy has a son who has been living and working in Hungary for years. The mayor wants him to return to his family. “We were born here,” he said. “This is where our roots are and where our parents’ graves are.”
The latest Ukrainian census, conducted in 2001, found that about 150,000 ethnic Hungarians lived in Transcarpathia, accounting for 12% of the total population of the region.
Today, only about 80,000 Hungarians are believed to be left in the region. “Maybe one day we’ll just be a folklore scene,” said historian László Zubaniks, who chairs the Hungarian Democratic Federation in Ukraine (UMDSZ). Zubaniks told DW that while the Ukrainian state plans to strengthen minority education in 2023, the war means more ethnic Hungarians are leaving Transcarpathia.
UMDSZ is one of two Hungarian political parties in Transcarpathia. Its stance is pro-European, it has no connection with the Orbán government and promotes dialogue with Ukraine’s political elite. The other regional party, the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine (KMKSZ), has a national-conservative outlook and maintains close ties with the Hungarian leadership.
everybody wants peace
For a long time, KMKSZ was the stronger of the two. Yet due to the war and the fact that the last local elections were held almost six years ago, it is difficult to say which of the two parties currently best represents the interests of Hungarians in Transcarpathia.
Talking to locals on the streets reveals a mix of Orbán supporters and critics. He said, very few people want to discuss politics. Everyone here, whether Ukrainian or Hungarian, can agree that they want peace.
“Our surveys show that most ethnic Hungarians feel patriotic as both Hungarians and citizens of Ukraine,” said Vitaly Dychuk, a political scientist at the Institute for Central European Strategy in Uzhhorod.
He said that the Ukrainian state and the Ukrainian public need to do more to ensure that minorities such as the Hungarian community receive proper recognition. “For example, there are many Hungarians who fight in the armed forces. Such things should be emphasized.”
This article was originally written in Ukrainian.