Ukraine allegedly catches Hungarian spies monitoring public opinion on potential march-in
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) revealed today that they caught two spies working for the Hungarian intelligence in Transcarpathia, Ukraine’s westernmost region with a Hungarian population of about 70-80,000. Their task, allegedly, was to monitor public opinion in case of a Hungarian military march-in and collect information about the defence capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces there. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said all such information should be regarded as part of the Ukrainian propaganda, which regularly contains anti-Hungarian elements.
Ukraine caught Hungarian spies, says SBU
According to Szabad Európa, the SBU arrested a woman and a man for gathering data for the Hungarian military intelligence in the Transcarpathia region. Transcarpathia is the westernmost region of Ukraine with a large Hungarian population concentrated near the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. The territory was part of the Kingdom of Hungary for 900 years. The last time Hungarian troops were there was in 1944, since the territory was reconquered by the Hungarian forces in 1939, following the dissolution and German occupation of Czechoslovakia.
The SBU told the media that the agents’ task was to gather data on Transcarpathia’s (Zakarpattia) military defence capabilities, search for vulnerabilities, and analyse how locals would react if Hungarian troops entered the region.
The Hungarian government always stood by the territorial integrity of Ukraine, no Hungarian officials ever said anything about entering Transcarpathia by force. They only criticised Ukraine’s discriminatory policies towards its ethnic minorities, including the Hungarians, who are indigenous to the country. However, they never spoke about military solutions. Instead, they wanted to continue the relevant talks with Kyiv and made solving the issue a prerequisite for supporting Ukraine’s EU accession.
Only some Russian leaders, e.g. Dmitry Medvedev, talked about the possibility of “giving” Transcarpathia to Hungary if Ukraine were partitioned between its neighbours. Those plans included even Poland, one of the biggest and strongest supporters of Ukraine.
There was an entire spy network, Ukrainian intelligence states
Therefore, it is strange that the SBU says they were able to uncover an entire spy network in Transcarpathia gathering military data and feeding the Hungarian intelligence services with it. The 40-year-old man they took into custody was a soldier before, and, based on the SBU, he became part of the Hungarian intelligence in 2021. However, he did not get a task until 2024 when he had to gather information about the positions of the Ukrainian military and the S-300 air defence system in the region. SBU said they had evidence of that activity.
Furthermore, SBU says the man recruited two new agents from among the residents. Their task would have been to submit reports from the front.
The woman they took into custody worked for the SBU but left service in 2025. She authored reports about the positions of the military aircraft in Transcarpathia, the SBU said. Here is a video shared by the SBU in which you can hear the man talking in Hungarian from 4:36:
The Hungarian government’s reaction
For now, only Hungarian FM Péter Szijjártó reacted during his joint press conference with the British Liam Fox. He called the allegations of the SBU part of the Ukrainian anti-Hungarian propaganda and added that they did not receive official information about the issue.
If they are found guilty, the man and the woman may face a life sentence in prison for high treason committed during war.
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