The photos taken on Wednesday in the village of Kocs in northwestern Hungary are an uncomfortable sight: They show small children asleep on bags; women sitting on suitcases, fold-up chairs and the ground by the roadside; tired, bewildered faces; and a police officer watching to make sure that the children don't run out onto the street.

The people in the photos are Ukrainian refugees. On Wednesday morning, just under 100 of them — almost all women and children — were forced to leave their accommodation and ended up on the street. From one day to the next they were homeless.

Representatives of Hungarian NGOs tried in vain to find emergency accommodation for them the same day. The refugees spent the night outside, and the NGOs continued their search on Thursday.

In June, Prime Minister Viktor Orban signed a decree that slashed state support for some Ukrainian refugees in the country. Now that the decree has come into effect, the threat of becoming homeless hangs over the heads of more than 3,000 Ukrainian refugees like the sword of Damocles.

In accordance with the decree, only those Ukrainian refugees who come from combat zones in Ukraine — in other words from parts of the country that are directly impacted by the war — will in future get state support for temporary accommodation. Eligibility will be determined on the basis of each refugee's current registered address in Ukraine.

From now on, state support for refugee accommodation will be limited to the end of the month after the date of the person's registration as a refugee in need of temporary protection. The Hungarian government intends to revise its list of combat zones in Ukraine every month.

Hungarian NGOs estimate that over 3,000........

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