PM Orbán bans drones in Hungarian county and deploys armed forces to shield energy sites from Ukrainian strike – updated

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has ordered the reinforcement of defences around Hungary’s critical energy infrastructure, he announced in a video posted to his Facebook page on Wednesday following a meeting of the defence council.

The prime minister stated that the defence council session, convened in response to Ukraine’s oil blockade, had just concluded. No oil has arrived in Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline since 27 January.

“The data make it clear that this unprecedented shutdown has not technical but political causes,” Orbán said. “The Ukrainian government is exerting pressure on Hungary and Slovakia through the oil blockade.”

Mr Orbán added that he had heard reports from the national security services, which indicated that Ukraine was preparing further actions to disrupt Hungary’s energy system.

“To counter this, I have ordered the strengthening of protections for critical energy infrastructure,” he said. “This means stationing troops around key energy facilities, along with the equipment needed to repel attacks. Police will patrol in greater numbers around designated power stations, substations, and control centres. In Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, I have imposed a ban on drone flights.”

“Hungary cannot be blackmailed,” Orbán declared.

UPDATE: Ukraine may further escalate tensions with Hungary, the defence minister says

The government has set up a Coordinating Operative Board to protect critical infrastructure because “according to information received, Ukraine has an interest in further escalating already existing tensions with Hungary,” Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said on current affairs channel M1 on Thursday.

The minister said that Ukraine had closed the tap on the Druzhba pipeline without technical reasons impeding delivery, “and it is acting as a blackmailing state holding Hungary under an oil blockade.”

The operative board was set up to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure, “that is, the energy supply system”, he said. That will include involving deploying the armed forces to the task, he said.

Regular air traffic not affected by ban

Further, Hungary has limited the access of private drones to the airspace in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county in northeast Hungary. The measure does not impact state-operated aircraft or regular air traffic, he said.

Ukraine is putting pressure on Hungary “to foment chaos and confusion, and to confuse Hungarian voters by impacting energy prices to put a government in power that will not impede its EU accession but support its war ambitions and wean Hungary off cheap Russian resources,” he said.

“It is unacceptable that the European Union is not representing the interests of its two member states under an oil blockade, Hungary and Slovakia, against a third country. Rather it is putting pressure on us on the matter of Ukraine’s financing, on continuing the war, and on promoting Ukraine’s EU membership,” he added.

Szalay-Bobrovniczky told public radio that the opposition Tisza Party “openly joined the Brussels-Kyiv axis; it is clear they will fulfil all their expectations.”

If you missed our articles concerning the Hungarian-Ukrainian conflict:

• Orbán decries von der Leyen’s and Zelensky’s new ‘Munich agreement’ to prolong Ukraine war
• False-flag military operation linked to Russians could destabilise Hungary ahead of 2026 election?
• It’s decided! EU sanctions blocked as Hungary and Slovakia refuse to back the 20th Russia sanctions package