“For the first time in the history of Ukraine, the Security Service has exposed a Hungarian military intelligence agent network that was carrying out espionage activities to the detriment of our state.”

“The task of this cell was to collect information about the military security of the Transcarpathian region, search for vulnerabilities in the region’s ground and air defense, and study the socio-political views of local residents: in particular, scenarios of behavior if Hungarian troops enter the region.”

“As a result of comprehensive measures in Transcarpathia, the SBU detained two agents from the Hungarian special service network. As the investigation established, the curator of both suspects was a regular employee of Hungarian military intelligence, whose identity has already been identified by the Security Service. One of his agents was a 40 year-old former military man from the Beregov district, who was recruited by foreigners and put into ‘standby mode’ back in 2021. According to counterintel and SBU investigators, the curator ‘activated’ this agent in September 2024. Then the traitor was given the task: to study the mood of the local population,” says the Ukrainian SBU in the beginning of a lengthy statement posted to Telegram on Friday, translation by Google.

There’s nothing in it to suggest that this was somehow Orban’s regime acting as a cutout for his buddy Putin, but further down it specifically says that the spying wasn’t just a political op as it mentions that “the agent personally scouted the location of the Defense Forces and the coordinates of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems in the region.” Which suggests that either way there’s definitely hostile intent, and Orban’s trying to foment an ethnic Hungarian rebellion in western Ukraine to divert Kyiv’s attention from the front with Russia or – just like Putin did in Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 – create a pretext for “annexing” territories. Maybe both.

The AP reports Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó did not “directly” deny Kyiv’s accusations on Friday, saying only he urges “everyone to exercise caution against any news that appears in Ukrainian propaganda. If we get any details or official information, then we can deal with it.”