Last Words of a Forcibly Conscripted Man to His Mother: “Mom, I Do Not Know When I Can Call You...”

Zsolt Reban's mother shared harrowing details about their last phone conversation. The Transcarpathian man was abducted from the street by recruiters, despite having been declared unfit for service multiple times due to existing heart problems.

Forced conscription has claimed another victim (Photo: AFP)

New heartbreaking details have come to light about the death of Zsolt Reban. His grieving mother spoke to the M1 news channel about their last phone call. The Hungarian man from Transcarpathia was taken forcibly by recruiters, even though he had repeatedly been declared unfit for military service because of his heart condition.

The abduction of the Transcarpathian man is not an isolated case, as recruiters regularly patrol the streets (Photo: Anadolu/Narciso Contreras)

According to the grieving mother, for a long time the family did not even know where Zsolt had been taken, as his phone was turned off. The family says the man was on his way home around lunchtime on January 6 when the abductors seized him. The mother said she tried to explain to the officers that they were taking away a man who had been exempted from military service, but they were not interested.

The grief-stricken woman said Zsolt had suffered from heart problems since childhood, and recently both a doctor in Berehove and later in Uzhhorod had declared him unfit for service.

Only days later did the family learn that the man had been taken to a training camp near Lviv. However, it was extremely difficult to establish contact with him, as his phone was constantly switched off. “His sister kept calling him, and I kept calling him too. Once, when there was signal, my daughter managed to reach him. He said they were outside sawing wood,” the mother recalled. Apart from this, they knew nothing, just as Zsolt himself knew nothing, since he was never told when he could return home.

The parents remained hopeful that their son would come home, but twelve days after his abduction, devastating news arrived. The heart patient Zsolt fell ill during training, collapsed, and died.

The family was informed of the tragedy by an officer over the phone. Before that, the mother had been able to speak with her son twice. 'They gave him the phone. I only talked to him for about ten minutes. Then he said: Mom, I do not know when I will be able to call you, because they have scattered us, he said. After that, I could not talk to him anymore, no matter how much I tried to call, me and Ibolya, his sister too. Then on the 18th, in the evening, the notification came that he had died,'

the mother said.

Hungarian Government Provides All Possible Assistance to the Family

"A Hungarian man was forcibly taken from the street in the Berehove (Beregszasz) district. They wanted to conscript him, but he fell ill at the training center due to a heart condition and unfortunately passed away," Minister of Foreign Affairs and trade Peter Szijjarto said in connection with the case.

They want to give hundreds of billions of euros to the Ukrainians, they want to give them even more weapons, they want to prolong this war, even though this war brings suffering, tragedy, and death every day,

he said.

“Peace is needed, the war must end, and the Hungarian government supports peace efforts. Until these are successful, we must remain out of this war,” he concluded.

The man’s death deeply shook the local Hungarian community. According to reports, Zsolt always helped others whenever he could. He was buried on January 26. According to official documents, the cause of death was heart and respiratory failure. For the family and the local community, however, this provides no comfort, as Zsolt should never have been forced into military service in the first place due to his health condition.

Cover photo: Forced conscription has claimed another victim (Photo: AFP)