“Let’s put it this way: Budapest has tried to interfere in Ukrainian internal affairs in dozens of different ways. You could not have heard about these. […] Most of the cases were dealt with quietly, among ourselves,” Zelensky told Válasz Online.
Although those attempts had been handled discreetly, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) made an unprecedented announcement on May 9 that it had detained two agents working on behalf of Hungarian military intelligence. Later that day, both countries expelled a pair of the other country’s diplomats, having accused them of espionage.
“Why did we make the current case public?” Zelensky asked rhetorically. His response suggests that the evidence collected raised questions that he felt needed to be addressed publicly. “I don’t want to threaten anyone, but we do have everything in our possession. […] We have everything documented,” he said.
Ukraine’s president alleged that these details include photos and videos of various meetings organized by the Hungarian Military National Security Service (KNBSz) on Hungarian territory, as well as information on how the KNBSz paid its agents and a list of questions the agents were tasked with finding answers to and canvassing from the local population in Transcarpathia.
According to Zelensky, the Hungarian military intelligence network had been operating in Ukraine since 2021 and started engaging in military-related activities in 2024-25, with the last data transfer occurring on March 25.
“Why was it necessary to look for our vulnerabilities in the Ukrainian-Hungarian border region? Why did the Hungarians want information about where we had deployed the S-300 air defense missile system there?” Zelensky asked. “That’s what they were interested in,” he pointed out. “And where our various military units are stationed.”
While not directly accusing Budapest, Zelensky wondered why Hungarian authorities felt compelled to collect this information, especially after asking NATO officials, who denied having requested that Hungary do so on their behalf.
“I am the president of a country at war; how would you have reacted if you were in my place?” Zelensky stated. “I don’t blame Viktor [Orbán]; I blame the KNBSz,” he concluded.
Responding to the interview, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said a “puppet government sending Hungarians’ money, weapons, and Hungarian soldiers to Ukraine” would be in Ukraine’s interest.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had earlier suggested that Brussels and Ukraine were collaborating to assemble a puppet government, with the intention of altering Hungary’s policy on Ukraine after the elections, in an interview with Kossuth Rádió on June 6.
“We should have no doubt that we are facing another political concept and strategy, another future for Hungary. A pro-Brussels puppet government would mean that the government is pro-Ukraine and the defense minister is pro-war,” the PM said. Emphasizing that “even Hungarian parties do little to disguise that,” Orbán claimed that “Tisza and the [Democratic Coalition] are essentially openly pro-Ukraine political organizations.”
Regarding an upcoming European Union summit, Orbán said the “only topic in Brussels is Ukraine’s EU accession. […] They think in Brussels that Europe is at war, that Ukraine is its vanguard fighting our war.” Fidesz MEP Csaba Dömötör told Hungarian journalists in Brussels on June 4 that the European Commission plans to fast-track Ukraine’s accession to the EU by 2029, using all available means.
According to a recent survey by government-supported think tank Századvég, public opinion in 11 of the EU’s 27 member states is against fast-tracking Ukraine’s accession to the bloc. The survey cited Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and France as countries where the majority of respondents opposed granting Ukraine preferential entry. While general support for Ukraine’s EU membership was higher in 16 countries, respondents in only 10 countries explicitly backed an accelerated accession process.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of June 16, 2025.
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