The crew of a Hungarian TV channel filmed a Hungarian victim's funeral in war-torn Ukraine.

After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarians believed for a long a time that the horrors of the war would not reach Transcarpathia, but they were wrong. According to official news sources, 12 ethnic Hungarians have died in the armed conflict so far, but the exact figure is undisclosed, as data on the official death toll is classified as a war secret.

The crew of Hungary’s TV2 interviewed a relative at the funeral of one of the victims. The brother of the deceased came directly from the front line to bid a last farewell.

The funeral of Bobik Roman, born in 1992, took place three months after his death. In addition to his family members, his fellow soldiers also attended the farewell ceremony held in Szurte, (Sjurte) in western Transcarpathia. Locals paid their respects by kneeling on the side of the road. The victim’s sister said that a three-month wait for a funeral is still considered quite good during the war. She added that there are people who they have been searching for for up to 11 months, but they still cannot find them. If, for example, a certain battlefield falls into the hands of the enemy, then the corpses can no longer be transported from there.

The woman was given leave from the front for a day, only to be allowed home to bury her brother. She also talked about the soldiers having food and opportunity to wash – as long as they are not being shot at non-stop. They protect themselves against the cold by building a stove out of whatever they can find, the grieving woman said. TV2’s on-the-spot report also addressed the news that the bodies of soldiers killed on the front line are stored in railway wagons.