A new law has come into force in Hungary that threatens to throw thousands of Ukrainian refugees out on the streets or send them back to Ukraine. According to the BBC, their address will determine whether the Ukrainians stay or are expelled from this country.

The new Hungarian government regulation No. 134 has changed the law that has been in force in the country since 2022. According to the new legislation, a Ukrainian refugee will receive state support – free accommodation and financial support – only if his last official address in Ukraine is in an area “directly affected by hostilities.”

It is not yet clear how many of the 31,000 Ukrainians who are in Hungary due to hostilities will be affected by the new rules. Human rights groups say that the most vulnerable are representatives of the Roma ethnic minority from western Transcarpathia, who are still living in shelters that will soon be closed. Their situation is complicated by the fact that many of them have dual Ukrainian-Hungarian citizenship. This deprives them of the right to asylum in other countries of the European Union.

Just a few months ago, Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semen assured that Hungary would not send refugees back to Ukraine, regardless of whether they were drafted into the army or not.

“Guided by elementary humanism, we will not allow them to be sent to their deaths,” the politician said.