Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that military forces detected reconnaissance drones entering Ukrainian airspace along the border with Hungary, with preliminary assessments suggesting the aircraft belonged to Budapest.
“The Commander-in-Chief [Oleksandr Syrskyi] reported on recent incidents with drones on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border. Ukrainian military recorded the entry of reconnaissance drones into our airspace, and these are probably Hungarian drones,” Zelenskyy said following a military briefing.
According to preliminary data, the unmanned aerial vehicles may have been conducting reconnaissance of industrial facilities in Ukraine’s border regions.
Ukraine shares a border with Hungary only in the Zakarpattia Oblast.
Hungary’s Ministry of Defense rejected Zelenskyy’s claims in a statement to Telex, asserting that Hungarian Armed Forces neither conducted nor received orders for drone flights along the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. The ministry noted it had received no information from Ukraine regarding such incidents despite maintaining regular contact.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó responded sharply to the drone allegations, claiming Zelenskyy “is starting to go crazy from anti-Hungarian obsession” and “sees things that don’t actually exist.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha countered Szijjártó’s remarks, stating: “We are beginning to see many things, including the hypocrisy and moral degradation of your government, open and covert activities against Ukraine and the rest of Europe, serving the Kremlin as a lackey.”
The drone incident represents the latest escalation in deteriorating Ukraine-Hungary relations. In May, Ukraine’s Security Service announced it had uncovered a Hungarian military intelligence spy network operating in Zakarpattia against Ukraine’s national security interests – the first such case in history.
The revelation triggered a diplomatic crisis, with both countries expelling each other’s diplomats. Hungary subsequently canceled meetings with Ukrainian representatives regarding the rights of its ethnic minority.
On 26 September, Ukraine banned entry to three high-ranking Hungarian military officials in response to Budapest’s actions.