Kyiv announces that it has obtained the release of the seven Ukrainian citizens detained in Budapest
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sibiha said on Friday that Kyiv had obtained the release of seven Ukrainian citizens who were detained in Budapest, Reuters and AFP inform, according to Agerpres.
Andrii Sibiha mentioned in a post on X that the freed Ukrainian citizens are safe and have crossed the Ukrainian border.
Earlier the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine summoned Hungary's acting chargé d'affaires in Kiev regarding the detention of Ukrainian citizens in Budapest, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy accusing X Hungary of “taking hostage” the seven employees of a Ukrainian bank in Budapest who were transporting tens of millions of euros from Austria.
“In Budapest, the Hungarian authorities took hostage seven Ukrainian citizens,” all employees of the state-owned bank Oschadbank who were operating two armored vehicles carrying cash and gold “from Austria,” Sibiha wrote on X.
“This is terrorism and extortion” committed by Hungary, the Ukrainian minister denounced, saying that he had already sent an official note to demand the “immediate release” of his compatriots.
The bank in question, Oschadbank, said in a statement that two of its vehicles transported “35 million euros and 9 kg of gold” from Raiffeisen Bank in Austria on Thursday, “in accordance with international transport regulations and European customs procedures in force”.
