Dozens of Hungarian soldiers had already been sent home from those who were wounded in the town of Zvecan on Sunday, when they were attacked by Serbs protesting the results of local elections.

“We have a total of 27 injured, 12 of whom have come on board now,” the Minister of National Defense announced, on Tuesday, after the plane carrying injured Kosovo soldiers landed at their home in Budapest. Earlier, different sources published different data on the number of wounded – Kafour wrote 19 about 3 of them with gunshot wounds – so hvg.hu also asked the Ministry of National Defense to clarify the number of injured.

The military plane carrying the wounded landed at Liszt Ferenc International Airport shortly before three o’clock in the afternoon. After that, Christophe Szalay-Boprovinsky exchanged a few words with the soldiers, and then talked about how the Hungarian soldier stood his ground again and heroically fulfilled his duty.

As he said it

Everyone is in stable condition, with no life-threatening injuries.

Those who have returned home can meet their family members, after which they will be taken to Honvédkórház.

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He also said that the soldiers told him that “the incident had been going on for a long time and it was very strong.” Despite their injuries, he said, they bravely held their ground, and many of them – who managed – returned to do the job.

The minister reaffirmed that the stability of the Western Balkans is very important for Hungary, as Hungary is present not only diplomatically and economically but also militarily within the framework of the KFOR mission presented by NATO. He stated that this task is currently under the Italian command, and formerly Major General Ferenc Kaggari was the commander of the KFOR. Now, as Deputy Chief of the General Staff at Honvéd, he made sure that the Hungarian soldiers carried out their duties, cared for the wounded and got them home safely.

Szalai Boprovnitsky highlighted: The government and he personally are very proud that the Hungarian soldiers have proven they can, that we can be trusted, and that they stand firm no matter what task they face abroad or at home.

According to the information of the Ministry of National Defense, 11 of the 12 wounded who arrived home are serving in the 11th Armored Brigade MH István Bocskai in Hódmezővásárhely, and one of them is a reservist.

Soldiers participating in the NATO Peacekeeping Force (KFOR) were deployed Monday afternoon to carry out mass dispersal missions at the office of the mayor of Zvecan in Kosovo. The crowd gathered there took to the streets because of the results of the previous elections.

The riots broke out after several villages in the Serb-populated part of Kosovo did not recognize the results of the provisional municipal elections held there in April. The mayors of Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok were sworn in on Thursday after snap elections were held in April in four Kosovo settlements – a fourth north of Mitrovica – because Serbia’s leaders there resigned last November. Local Serbs boycotted the elections, so the turnout was very low, only 3.47 percent (only 1,657 out of 45,000 eligible voters voted), yet Pristina and the international community declared the elections valid, which local Serbs and Belgrade also called unacceptable. The demonstrations deteriorated, and after a while, NATO soldiers performing law enforcement duties were attacked by the protesting Serbs, including Hungarians.



HVG


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H.M.: More than 20 Hungarian soldiers were injured in Kosovo, seven of them seriously.


hvg. huat home

Their condition is stable.



Dramatic video about the riots in Kosovo, in which more than 20 Hungarian soldiers were injured


hvg. huworld

Wounded soldiers lying on the ground and the sound of weapons exploding in the Radio Free Europe recordings.