Police: Thousands of refugees arrive in Budapest on Monday

A total of 4,002 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, 308 of them children, arrived in Budapest by train on Monday, Budapest police (BRFK) has said.

The authorities have organised accommodation for 291 people including 66 children, BRFK said on police.hu on Tuesday.

Many of the refugees were on their way to relatives or to further destinations, it said.

BRFK is helping the refugees at the Nyugati and Keleti railway stations.

They are in constant contact with the disaster management directorate, the migration authority, transport companies and aid organisations to help refugees obtain daily supplies, transport and accommodation, police.hu said.

• read also: This is how Hungary helps Ukrainian refugees

Orbán at ambassadors’ meeting: Hungarians’ security top priority

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Tuesday addressed a meeting of Hungary’s ambassadors, and said the primary goal was to stop Hungary from “being swept up” in the Ukraine-Russia war.

Ahead of the meeting, Orbán talked to Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and state secretaries of the foreign ministry.

Orbán said

Hungary was taking part in European Union efforts to create peace, but will not send weapons or troops to Ukraine lest the step should risk Hungarian lives.

Foreign ministry: Peace talks ‘could be an important step forward’

The start of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia “could be an important step forward”, according to a foreign ministry official.

The state secretary for communicating Hungarian affairs abroad, Tamás Menczer, told public television that

Hungary had assisted Ukraine in numerous ways before the outbreak of the war, and he noted that the foreign minister led an aid delegation providing 100,000 litres of fuel and 30 tonnes of food to Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) on Sunday.

On Monday, what is thought to be the largest humanitarian operation in Hungary’s history got under way, with a consignment of food and hygiene products for young children worth 600 million forints assembled, he said.

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