On May 9, 2025, Ukraine and Hungary entered a sharper diplomatic confrontation after Kyiv said its security service had arrested two people accused of working for Hungarian military intelligence in western Ukraine.
The Security Service of Ukraine said the suspects were both former members of the Ukrainian military and had been gathering intelligence on military issues in Zakarpattia Oblast, the western region that borders Hungary. Ukrainian officials said the case marked the first time in Ukraine’s history that a Hungarian espionage operation had been uncovered. The SBU said the pair were being charged with treason, a crime that can carry a life sentence.
The arrests quickly spilled into diplomacy. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said two Hungarian diplomats were expelled after the arrests became public. Hungary then responded in kind, with Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó saying that two Ukrainian diplomats had been ordered out of Budapest. The exchange turned the allegation into one of the most direct public clashes between the two governments in recent months.
The spy case is sensitive because of Zakarpattia’s demographics and geography. The region has a sizeable Hungarian ethnic minority and has long been a point of tension between Kyiv and Budapest. The AP report said the area is home to more than 150,000 ethnic Hungarians. Sybiha said the network’s alleged mission included collecting information about regional military security, identifying vulnerabilities in ground and air defenses, and examining how local residents might behave if Hungarian troops entered the region.
Hungary did not directly concede that a spy network had operated in Ukraine, but its government denounced Kyiv’s allegations. Szijjártó called them anti-Hungarian propaganda and said they were being pushed by Kyiv in retaliation for Hungary’s stance on the war. Budapest has taken a consistently adversarial line toward Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, refusing to provide weapons, blocking transit of weapons through its territory, and threatening to obstruct EU assistance and Ukraine’s membership path.
The episode adds another layer to a fraught relationship already shaped by history, minorities policy and the war. Budapest and Kyiv have repeatedly clashed over the rights of Hungarians in Zakarpattia, much of which was part of Hungary until the end of World War I. Hungary’s critics in Kyiv see that history as a recurring source of leverage; Hungarian officials frame their objections as protection of kin communities and resistance to what they describe as discriminatory treatment.
The SBU said the alleged network was overseen by a career officer of Hungarian military intelligence, who had also supplied cash and a secure communications device. It said the officer had tried to recruit other people into the network. The Hungarian Defense Ministry and Military National Security Service did not immediately respond to the AP’s requests for comment.
For now, the dispute sits at the intersection of security, identity and diplomacy. Ukraine has turned the arrests into a public warning about foreign intelligence activity on its territory. Hungary has turned the same case into an accusation that Kyiv is using espionage claims to mount a political attack. Both sides are likely to keep the issue alive, because it touches a border region where wartime security concerns and ethnic politics already overlap.
