Bullying, unemployment and poverty are what Ukrainian refugees in Hungary have to deal with. At the official level, the country accepts refugees, but in reality the system is designed only for short-term admission. As a result, only one in four wants to stay, and one in 30 wants to stay for a long time.

“A man of 50-60 years old […] in the store started shouting – sorry for the expression – Ukrainian whore, go-go. Russia is good. And he takes a bottle out of his pocket, shows – I’ll break it now. And on us with this bottle,” – Polina tells the BBC Russian Service.

She, with her retired mother and 13-year-old daughter, came to Hungary from eastern Ukraine, where the Russian army is now on the offensive. Neither she nor her family knew that they were fleeing the war with Russia in the most pro-Russian country in the EU.

Polina chose Hungary, thinking that Poland is overcrowded. She says that the Hungarians help in any way they can, but “not everyone is happy with them.”

“I was given advice on what to tell the children so that they don’t tell who their dad is and what he is fighting for,” says Anna from Kyiv. “It is not known, they say, for Ukraine, or you are helping America. I told myself and this man that I won’t lie to my kids and we’re proud that our dad is protecting our country.”

Anna came to Hungary by accident: “We just got on a train that was going somewhere.”

Hungary, unlike its neighbors in Eastern Europe, refused to support Ukraine with weapons or transport them through its territory. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as his opponent, agreed to pay in rubles for Russian energy resources, and opted for neutrality in the war.

“This is a war between two big countries, and it is very close to us. We must stay away. The opposition wants to involve Hungary, we are going to the polls in order to stay out,” Orban said on the eve of the April 3 parliamentary elections. He won the election and became prime minister for the fourth time in a row.

At the same time, Hungary borders on Ukraine and became the third country after Poland and Romania in terms of the number of refugees accepted. Almost half a million Ukrainians moved here.

Some say that they are accepted as family, others talk about unbearable conditions – from domestic clashes and poverty to a banal misunderstanding among the local population about what is happening in Ukraine.

“Here, as in Russia, information is limited. Many people ask if it’s true that we have civil strife, and Russia has sent in peacekeeping troops,” continues Polina. “At first they have such distrust: but how? in a different way. And then, when you start to explain, people get into it. Well … it’s hard to master new information. ”

According to the International Press Institute, the majority of Hungarian media is controlled by the government – directly or indirectly, there is almost no independent journalism in the country, and the opposition is not allowed to air on public television. IPI reportedly goes as far as spying on independent journalists with the infamous Pegasus software.

The popularity of the government’s line on the Ukrainian issue is felt on the streets of Budapest – people either refuse to talk about the war or remain neutral.

“Anything can happen, this is a war. We know from history an example of what happens if you are against Russia. During World War II, Hungary was an enemy of Russia, and what happened happened. Our capital was completely destroyed,” he says BBC Russian Service Christian.

As a result, the Hungarians are ready to help the refugees, but not to the same extent as in other countries of Eastern Europe.

Most of the Ukrainian refugees we spoke to tend to ignore or accept politics.

“I think Orban is also a victim of some circumstances,” Anastasia from Kyiv told the BBC Russian Service. “He plays the tune of his voter, who does not want gas and food prices to rise.”

Nevertheless, Anastasia is going to move to Germany and says that the matter is in the parents who came with her from Ukraine: “I want to separate already.”

Anna says that she did not pay attention to politics, because she was busy solving pressing problems. During our conversation, she was going home to Kyiv. She says that her husband was taken to the hospital from the front.

However, not everyone can leave. Polina does not want to live far from the border, because she will return home as soon as possible: “If they tell me that the war is over today, I will have a ticket today.” She can’t drive now.

If it becomes calmer in Kyiv, then in her native Severodonetsk the situation can become critical at any moment. Polina also tries to ignore everyday bullying and arranges life in Budapest – she has no choice.

Now her hometown is sandwiched between the territory controlled by the Russian army, the territory controlled by the self-proclaimed “republics” in the Donbass, and the territory where the offensive continues.

“We were waiting for evacuation buses, lying on the pavement under fire,” says Polina. “They hit residential areas, set fire to bases, fired at queues for humanitarian aid, fired at queues when some other shops were open.”

Polina has relatives in Russia, Latvia and Denmark. However, the family refuses to go to them – relatives support Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The sister from Denmark said: “I can’t invite you, we will argue on this topic,” says Polina’s mother Irina. “I don’t communicate with my niece from Russia. I cry, I tell how the guns beat […] And she tells us that it is the Armed Forces of Ukraine that are fighting with the National Guard and hitting the Ukrainians.”

Irina says that strangers in Hungary turned out to be kinder. This is not about government assistance, but about supporting ordinary people in Hungary and volunteers. The country does not want to quarrel with Putin, refugees periodically face harassment, but in parallel there is a mass movement to help those who fled the war.

Ordinary Hungarians work in accommodation centers, Russian-speaking foreigners come to help in crisis centers and railway stations, people rent apartments for free and donate clothes.

According to the UN, about half a million refugees have arrived in Hungary since the start of the war. The government told the BBC Russian Service about 600 thousand refugees, for the reception and accommodation of which the authorities spent more than 100 million euros.

According to official Hungarian sources, by April 21, 17,000 Ukrainians had applied for humanitarian protection, and another 100,000 had requested a temporary residence permit. In other words, of the refugees arriving in the country, about one in four wants to stay. Staying for a long time – about one in 30.

The volunteers we spoke to claim that already at the stage of crossing the border, people know that they are going to another EU country – someone has relatives in Germany, someone has friends in Spain.

There are really many such people, much more than, for example, in Polish accommodation centers.

“They think [the prime minister] doesn’t want to help Ukraine. But that’s not the case, he will help in any way he can,” Edina told the BBC Russian Service. She came to Hungary from Ukraine 15 years ago and made periodic trips home before the war. Now Edina lives in the border town of Zahony.

It is here that trains from Ukraine arrive, eight trains a day. Volunteers who work at the station say that thousands of people used to come every day, now 20-30 people get off the train. Some Ukrainians say they are passing through Hungary, others want to visit relatives and return home.

Near the station there is a school where you can stay, but only for a few days. The refugees are then sent to Budapest. They buy tickets within the country at reduced prices, travel to the capital costs a few euros.

The largest crisis center in the country has been equipped in Budapest, and a sports arena has been set aside for it. “Here they can get any help. They can get food, water. There is a children’s corner, there is a help center for those who come with pets,” volunteer Christophe tells the BBC Russian Service.

In the same center you can buy tickets for trains and buses to other EU countries. And if a person is not going to other EU countries, he can spend the night right in the center. But only one night. The standard time spent in a crisis center is six hours. After that, you need to find a place to live.

There is a free hostel run by the local NGO Migration Aid. There are 300 places in it, 1,500 volunteers work in the center, the rent is paid from donations, the state does not help.

But this hostel is also a temporary option, you can stay in it for two weeks. “We see that there is a need for long-term accommodation, there are clearly not enough places, we are working on their arrangement,” says volunteer Martzi.

Only private accommodation remains. The state crisis center has a list of hosters, there are about 300 of them. Some will be lucky with free housing, some will not.

Polina and her family were lucky. They were taken in by a local school, they have beds and free meals. Anna from Kyiv was unlucky, she had a free apartment for a month, but she did not know where to go later.

The problems do not end with housing – you still have to live on something. Hungary is ready to pay refugees 60 euros a month, which, by the standards of Eastern Europe, is not enough even for food.

You can try to get a job, but without knowing the language, these are mainly plants and factories that are located outside the city. If there is housing nearby – lucky, if not – there is no work.

“From the very beginning, Hungary said that those who want to stay in the country can work, they have a work permit,” says Kristof. “But we are now at the very beginning of the crisis. Companies offer jobs, but I think they should adjust the proposals according to the capabilities of the refugees.”

The Hungarian government is ready to pay employers 160 euros per month to cover the cost of accommodating refugees. However, this does not help the situation.

Polina has been looking for a job for two weeks now, with no result, because she has housing in Budapest, and most of the offers are outside the capital. They can accommodate, but not the whole family.

“Any job is suitable, as long as I have the opportunity to get there,” she says. “I don’t care at all – as a packer of goods, at some factory. mother will not be settled.”

A separate problem is the registration of legal status. With a Ukrainian passport, you can stay in any EU country for three months. If the passport is old, there will be problems. As a rule, this applies to older people.

Already at the station in Zahony, these people are taken to the local registration center, where they issue a 30-day residence permit in the country. What to do next, not everyone understands.

“They are not informed at all, they don’t know anything. Despite the fact that protection is available, they are not told this at the border, and this is the biggest problem. You can’t make a choice about your fate if there is no information,” says BBC Russian Service -si Aniko Bakogni.

She works for the NGO Hugarian Helsinki Committee, which provides free legal assistance to refugees. In one of their reports, they wrote how one of the refugees said that the Hungarian border guards told the Ukrainians not to apply for any status – supposedly this would facilitate all procedures.

We are talking about the status of temporary protection, which Ukrainian refugees can receive in any EU country thanks to a new European directive. With this status, you can work, receive benefits and legally live in the EU for a year. Without it, there will be no benefit.

“Already at the registration center, they should know that they can ask for temporary protection. Instead, we see that everyone in a row receives a 30-day pass,” Bakogni says. “Not everyone wants temporary protection, but it would be good to explain to people what kind of protection they have. rights”.

Communication with border guards takes place mainly in English, which not all refugees speak. “There is no Ukrainian translator here, the information changes all the time,” says Anna from Kyiv.

Her conversation with the police at the central migration center was translated by a BBC correspondent. This helped partly because the forms are in Hungarian. Translation into Ukrainian is, but not everywhere.

“When I arrived here, they gave forms – about refugee status and temporary protection status, I said that I wanted temporary protection status, they gave me another form,” says Anna. “I started filling it out – I look, and it says that this is a status refugee. I started asking, they said what it is, and they distribute it to everyone. I turn over the form – on the other side it says that this is the status of temporary protection. ”

The situation is even worse for those refugees who do not have Ukrainian passports – for example, international students, former students who married and stayed in the country, or those who once came to Ukraine as economic migrants. Under the European directive, they can also count on an annual status of temporary protection. But according to Hungarian laws they cannot.

“Non-Ukrainians receive a 30-day permit. Hungary adopted the EU directive in such a way that despite the fact that the directive states that the country must provide adequate protection, there is no adequate protection in Hungary,” Aniko Bakonyi said.

Many people know that the social package in other EU countries is much wider. For example, in Germany, refugees can be provided with social housing, an allowance of 345 euros and free language courses.

Anna says that she discussed with the volunteers the option of moving to Germany, she was advised to cancel the documents that she managed to draw up in Hungary.

Already in the migration service, she was told that it was impossible to cancel them inside the country. You can return to Ukraine and cancel documents at the border.

This means that when a person lived in Hungary for a month, filled out the documents and realized that he had nothing to live on and nowhere to live, moving, for example, to Germany is a problem. To do this, you need to enter Ukraine again.

According to the UN, more than five million people have left Ukraine since the beginning of the war. More than a million crossed the border in the opposite direction.