Liublin said he and his girlfriend, who declined to give her name, found it almost unbelievable that they had finally finished the long journey to Hungary, as almost every day there had been bombings or shootings, according to the Singaporean daily broadsheet newspaper.

Once safe in Hungary he reportedly said "Unlike all the other people here, I am from Russia. I lived in Ukraine for about a year. Russia will pay for it (the invasion of Ukraine), for many, many years, and Putin should be tried."