KYIV -- Ukraine's main security agency said it uncovered a Hungarian-run spy network that was seeking sensitive information about military defenses and public opinion in the western Zakarpattya region, which borders Hungary and has a substantial ethnic-Hungarian population.
Hungary responded by expelling two Ukrainian diplomats it said were considered spies, prompting Ukraine to expel two Hungarian diplomats in return and increasing tensions between the neighboring countries whose governments are at odds over Russia's war against Ukraine.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on May 9 that it had arrested two suspected agents in Zakarpattya -- often known in English as Transcarpathia -- and claimed it had identified their handler as an employee of Hungarian military intelligence. This is the first time Ukraine has found a Hungarian spy network working to undermine the country's security, the SBU said.
The SBU posted video footage showing camouflage-clad officers muscling a man out of a building and into a vehicle, his hands cuffed behind his back.
The announcement comes amid tension between Ukraine and Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban has maintained warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and opposed sanctions against the Kremlin imposed by the European Union in response to Moscow's war on Ukraine. Hungary has been far less supportive of Kyiv's defensive efforts than most other European Union and NATO nations, and Orban opposes EU membership for Ukraine.
SEE ALSO: In Western Ukraine, Ethnic Hungarians Refuse To Play 'Hostage' To Hungary's EU PolicyThe development also plays into a complex situation in Zakarpattya, where Kremlin critics say Russia has sought to spark tension between ethnic Hungarians and the Ukrainian authorities.
Hours after the SBU announcement, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Hungary expelled two diplomats from the Ukrainian Embassy in Budapest who were considered to be undercover spies. In a video posted on Facebook, he said a notification about the expulsions was handed to the Ukrainian ambassador at the Foreign Ministry.
Asked earlier in the day about the Ukrainian statement, Szijjarto told ATV television that Hungary had received no official notice about the case from Ukraine and that for now, "this should be classified as propaganda that should be treated with caution."
"[In] addition to the physical war [in Ukraine], there is also a propaganda war taking place," Szijjarto said. "It is clear that anti-Hungarian propaganda is often used in Ukraine, anti-Hungarian propaganda that in many cases has turned out to have no basis whatsoever."
The Hungarian prime minister's office and Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to RFE/RL's requests for comment.
Later in the day, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said Ukraine is also expelling two Hungarian diplomats, who now have 48 hours to leave the country.
"We are acting in response to Hungary's actions, based on the principle of reciprocity and our national interests," Sybiha added on his X.
SEE ALSO: Can A New Tribunal Hold Russia Accountable For Crimes Of Aggression In Ukraine?The alleged network's goals were "the collection of information about the military defenses of the Zakarpattya Oblast, a search for vulnerable spots in the ground and air defenses of the region, and also the study of the sociopolitical views of local residents," including how they might react "if Hungarian forces enter the region," the SBU said in a statement.
The SBU said one of the suspects was a 40-year-old former soldier from Zakarpattya's Berehove district -- the population hub for Ukraine's ethnic Hungarian minority of roughly 100,000 people -- whom it said was recruited and placed in a "sleeper" mode in 2021, then "activated" by the alleged handler in September 2024.
The SBU claimed it has documentary evidence that the suspect was gathering information about the location of Ukrainian air-defense systems and other military capabilities.
The other detained suspect, a woman, is a former member of Ukraine's Security and Defense Forces who resigned from her unit earlier this year, it said.
The suspects have not been named.
Viktor Yahun, a former SBU deputy head who left the agency in 2015, said the accusations were a grave matter in wartime.
"The presence of agents had been recorded before, they were simply left alone because there was no directive to expose them," Yahun told RFE/RL. "But now the situation has critically changed. We're dealing with military intelligence. This is a serious matter, and the information this structure gathers can be of strategic importance to us. It can be used to make certain strategic decisions."
SEE ALSO: RFE/RL Investigation: Why Is Hungary Funding Diaspora Communities In Western Ukraine?Vitaliy Dyachuk, an analyst at the Institute for Central European Strategy in Uzhhorod, Zakarpattya's capital, suggested the situation should be handled with care and that heightened tension could play into Russia's hands.
"The tense relationship between Ukraine and Hungary is an ideal [touchstone]for the activation of forces seeking to further destabilize the situation. This is especially true when it comes to sensitive topics like alleged preconditions for another military incursion, the presence of armed forces, and ethnic communities in a region like Zakarpattya," Dyachuk told RFE/RL.
"Before taking any concrete steps, I believe it is worth waiting for a full analysis of the situation. There have already been incidents in Zakarpattya involving arson attacks on Hungarian institutions and other provocations. However, in the end, the trail led to the aggressor state -- Russia. Russia is, in fact, the only major beneficiary of instability in Europe."
After centuries under the control of Hungary and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Zakarpattya became part of Czechoslovakia after World War I before Hungary, allied with Nazi Germany, attempted to reclaim it in 1939. Following Germany's defeat in World War II, Czechoslovakia ceded the territory to the Soviet Union, which made it part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Between 2011 and 2020, the Hungarian government provided at least 115 million euros to Zakarpattya, a 2021 investigation by RFE/RL's Ukrainian investigative unit, Schemes, and a group of Central European journalists established. That amount was roughly 1 1/2 times the size of Zakarpattya's annual budget.