Thousands of Ukrainian refugees face eviction as Hungary limits support

Thousands of Ukrainian refugees face eviction from shelters in Hungary after a legislative change that came into effect on Wednesday took away their access to state-subsidised accommodation.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban signed a degree in June limiting state support to refugees from parts of Ukraine which are not considered affected by the country's war with Russia.

Budapest currently lists only 13, or about half of Ukraine's regions as impacted by the ongoing conflict.

Government commissioner Norbert Pal defended the change as "reasonable and proportionate" after two and half years of war. He told the Magyar Nemzet newspaper that "those who wanted to get back on their feet in Hungary have been able to do so".

Privately-owned shelters already have started evicting refugees now ineligible for support, the Migration Aid group said.

In Kocs, north of Budapest, around 120 refugees were ousted from a guest house under police supervision on Wednesday, according to a news agency photographer.

Most were Roma women and children from Transcarpathia in western Ukraine, where there is a large Hungarian community.

"We are in a hopeless situation because we have nowhere to go," Marina Amit, a mother-of-five who fled to Hungary last year, said.

"We cannot go home to Ukraine, I have a 17-year-old son," she added, saying she feared he would be conscripted into the Ukrainian army.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, estimated this week that 2,000-3,000 Ukrainians could lose access to subsidised accommodation.

The rule change will result in "job losses and impact school enrolment, jeopardizing the positive integration achievements obtained so far", UNHCR said in a statement urging Hungary to reconsider.

Hungary hosts fewer refugees than other EU member states in the region. Some 46,000 Ukrainians have applied for protection in the central European country, according to UNHCR.