Sybiha said Hungarian Ambassador to Ukraine was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and handed a corresponding protest note. The minister added that the two diplomats must leave Ukraine within 48 hours.
“We are acting in response to Hungary’s actions based on the principle of reciprocity and our national interests,” the minister said.
Earlier the same day, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that Hungary was expelling two Ukrainian diplomats, accusing them of “spying on behalf of Ukraine.”
According to Szijjártó, the decision to expel two employees at Ukraine’s embassy in Budapest is a response to allegations that Kyiv was conducting a “slanderous” and “anti-Hungarian” propaganda campaign.
Also on May 9, Ukraine’s SBU security service said it had uncovered, for the first time in its history, an intelligence network run by Hungarian military intelligence in Zakarpattya Oblast. The investigation found that two agents had gathered information on the region’s military defenses, studied its air defense systems, and monitored local public opinion regarding a potential takeover by Hungarian forces.
Reacting to the arrests of the suspects, Szijjártó said Budapest had not received any official notification from Ukraine about the exposure of Hungarian intelligence agents in Zakarpattya. He also claimed that Ukraine was allegedly using “anti-Hungarian propaganda that in many cases has no basis.”