A statue of the 19th century Hungarian national poet Sandor Petofi was vandalised in the centre of Uzhhorod early on Sunday.

The Hungarian Democratic Federation in Ukraine (UMDSZ) reported the incident to police.

White paint was poured over the full-body statue of the poet, who was a leading figure of the March 15 revolution against Habsburg rule in Hungary in 1848. The statue was given by Hungary to Ukraine as a present in 1990 and was inaugurated by the two countries' presidents at the time.

Over the past week, this has been the third vandalising of Hungarian statues in Ukraine. Last weekend, Anti-Hungarian slogans and swastikas were painted on a monument at the Verecke Pass commemorating the Hungarian tribes' arrival in the Carpathian Basin in 896 A.D. At the same time, an obelisk commemorating the 1849 battle of Podhering was damaged in Mukachevo.