Ukrainian authorities claim to have busted a Hungarian spy ring operating on its territory, alleging that Budapest was collecting sensitive military data with one eye on a possible future incursion into the west of the country.
It added that this was the first time in the history of Ukraine that a Hungarian spy network had been found to be working against Kyiv’s interests.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that it had detained two Ukrainian military veterans as part of the operation, and claimed the network had engaged in the collection of information on military defences in the western part of Ukraine as well as sentiment among the local population.
The SBU noted that the suspected Hungarian agents had also been tasked with studying “the socio-political views of local residents, in particular, scenarios of their behaviour if Hungarian troops entered the region.”
The pair was allegedly given cash and special equipment for secret communication and tasked with passing on details about air defence batteries and other military capabilities in the western Zakarpattia region bordering Hungary.
It published a video interrogation of one of the detainees in handcuffs, with his face blurred.
The SBU said that the spy ring was run by a “staff officer of Hungarian military intelligence” and that the operation was designed to uncover information about vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s defence of western regions.
It claimed that one of the detainees, a 40-year-old veteran from the western Ukrainian town of Berehove, which has a majority ethnic Hungarian population, had been recruited in 2021 as a sleeper agent.
It said that he was “activated” by a handler in 2024 and asked to collect information. It alleged that at a meeting in Hungary the man received cash payment for providing information, as well as to help recruit more people to the network of informants.
The two detained suspects face charges of high treason, which could result in life imprisonment.
The allegations will further test already fraught relations between the two neighbouring countries.
While Hungary is a member of Nato and the EU, its Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, has been an outlier among European leaders, strongly critical of Kyiv and neutral towards Russia.
An estimated 80,000 ethnic Hungarians live in Ukraine’s western Zakarpattia region.
The language rights of the region’s people have long been a bone of contention: Orbán’s nationalist government says Kyiv does not make proper provisions for them to speak Hungarian in schools, while Ukraine has accused Orbán of instrumentalising the community as an excuse to follow Russian talking points about Ukraine and the war.
Orbán has spoken out against continued sanctions on Russia and promised to block Ukraine’s EU accession route.
Last summer, he infuriated other EU leaders when he visited Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, shortly after Hungary took over the rotating EU presidency.
Hungry Dismisses Ukraine’s Claims
Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó dismissed Ukraine’s accusations as “propaganda.”
Speaking at a press conference in Budapest, Szijjártó said that Hungary had not been presented with any evidence to back up the claims.
“If we receive any details or official information, then we will be able to deal with this. Until then, I must classify this as propaganda that must be handled with caution.”
Péter Szijjártó
In a Facebook video released later, Szijjarto,“We do not tolerate that Ukraine should continuously launch such defamatory acts against Hungary and the Hungarian people.”
He added that two spies “working under diplomatic cover at Ukraine’s embassy in Budapest” have been expelled.
Szijjarto accused Ukraine of often using anti-Hungarian propaganda that proved unfounded and said that Ukraine’s latest move was driven by Hungary’s opposition to providing military aid to Ukraine as it fends off Russia’s three-year-old invasion.
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