Velyka Dobron, known to locals as Nagydobrony, looks like a quiet Ukrainian village on a bright spring day: neat houses lining a main street. A closer look tells another story. Many homes stand empty, young men are scarce, and the town feels the strain of a community hollowed out by conflict and migration.
The village sits in far-west Ukraine, about 10 kilometers from the Hungarian border, and is overwhelmingly ethnic Hungarian. Sandor Rati, 63, works alone as a carpenter and carries the visible worry of someone with a heavy burden. His only son was conscripted into the Ukrainian army weeks earlier; Rati had relied on him for help because of health problems. Now his son is in training and Rati hopes he will be kept close to home rather than sent to the front.
When the subject turns to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his increasingly anti-Ukrainian rhetoric ahead of Hungary’s election, Rati falls silent. He acknowledges that Orban has supported Hungarians across the border, yet warns against provoking Kyiv: ‘They’ll be angry with us here.’
Orban’s campaign has emphasized nationalist, pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian themes, focusing especially on Transcarpathia, a multiethnic region. Hungarian officials and media have accused Kyiv of curbing minority rights, alleged attacks by Ukrainian nationalists on Hungarian institutions, and claimed ethnic Hungarians are being mobilized in disproportionate numbers. Many of these claims have circulated widely on social media, often without clear evidence.
That picture does not fully match life on the ground, according to residents and local officials. Complaints about loss of minority rights are uncommon, there is little documented proof of coordinated nationalist attacks on the Hungarian community, and bilingual signs have not been systematically vandalized as in some other countries. Still, many ethnic Hungarians are guarded in public, reluctant to speak because they fear being misquoted or misrepresented.
Mayor Ferenc Nagy, 51, is among the few who will speak openly. In the modest town hall a Ukrainian and a Hungarian flag hang side by side, and letters of thanks from Ukrainian forces and institutions note the village’s relief efforts. Nagy declines to engage in partisan attacks but bristles at labels like ‘mafia state.’ ‘I’m not a criminal,’ he says. He asks politicians to focus on practical results rather than insults.
Nagy says he does not see routine discrimination in daily life, though he wants Ukrainian-language instruction better adapted for children who do not speak Ukrainian at home. He remembers when farming sustained larger families; before the conflict that began in 2014 and Russia’s 2022 invasion, the village was more prosperous and populous. Once home to more than 6,000 people, Velyka Dobron now has roughly 2,000, many men working abroad while other families follow.
Census data from 2001 recorded roughly 150,000 ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia, about 12% of the region’s population. Current estimates put the number nearer 80,000. Laszlo Zubanics, a historian and head of the Hungarian Democratic Federation in Ukraine (UMDSZ), warns that ongoing emigration risks reducing the Hungarian presence to ‘a folkloristic sight.’ He notes the Ukrainian state strengthened minority education in 2023, but says wartime pressures and economic hardship continue to push people away.
Two main Hungarian parties operate in the region. The UMDSZ is pro-European, favors dialogue with Kyiv and distances itself from Budapest’s ruling party. The Party of Hungarians of Ukraine (KMKSZ) is national-conservative and closely aligned with Hungary’s leadership. Before the war, KMKSZ was dominant locally, but the conflict and the long delay since the last local elections make it hard to judge which party now best represents residents.
On village streets there are supporters and critics of Orban, though most people avoid political debate. A rare point of broad agreement across communities is the desire for peace. In nearby Berehove, Hungarian is the primary language at schools, while Ukrainian is used for subjects like literature and history. Vitaliy Dyachuk, a political scientist in Uzhhorod, says surveys show many ethnic Hungarians feel patriotic ties to both Hungary and Ukraine, and urges Kyiv and society to visibly recognize minority contributions, including the fact that many Hungarians serve in Ukraine’s armed forces.
For now, residents speak in cautious tones about identity, survival and roots. ‘We were born here,’ Mayor Nagy says. ‘This is where our roots are and where our parents’ graves lie.’ The overriding hope, among Hungarians and Ukrainians alike in this border region, is that the war ends and life can begin to return to what it once was.
This article was originally written in Ukrainian.