Hungary has enhanced security measures along its border with Ukraine following the developments in the city of Mukachevo, in Ukraine’s Trans Carpathian territory, where gunmen of the Right Sector extremist group have staged a deadly attack on a range of facilities, Trans-Carpathian News online said on Sunday.
According to the media outlet, Hungary has enhanced security measures at the border and is checking Ukrainian crossing into its territory more carefully. “Hungarian customs officers are inspecting Ukrainian car more attentively. Additional police posts have been installed to check Ukrainian cars that already crossed the border into Hungary,” it said.
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry ambassador-at-large Dmitry Kuleba said the developments in Mukachevo may affect the prospects of introducing a visa-free travel regime between Ukraine and the European Union. “After a real battle staged by the Right Sector right on the border with the European Union,” the Ukrainian authorities “bear responsibility for failing to meet a number of demands” for establishing the visa-free travel regime with the EU, the diplomat said.
“For months, we have been convincing the European Union reasonably that the risks in the security sphere have been minimized. And we have convinced…” the ambassador wrote on this Facebook page.
On Saturday, July 11, gunmen of the Right Sector extremist group, which is banned in Russia, opened fire from small arms on their opponents while discussing the “redistribution of spheres of influence” in Mukachevo. The extremists later opened fire from rifles, heavy machine guns and grenade launchers on police who arrived at the scene. They destroyed several police vehicles and also set on fire a traffic police checkpoint and a petrol station. As a result, three persons were killed and 11 more were wounded. Some of the gunmen were later blocked in a wooded area near the city. Ukraine’s law enforcers are still in talks with them.
The Right Sector has called on its supporters to stage open-ended protest actions across the country demanding punishment of those whom they think responsible for the incident, including the resignation of Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. At a briefing in Kiev, the Right Sector refused to surrender arms and said it would place its posts at roads leading to Mukachevo not to let Ukrainian law enforcer build up their forces in the city.
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