Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated on Monday that Ukraine is not a sovereign state, responding to accusations that Hungarian reconnaissance drones had entered Ukrainian airspace—a move that has further strained relations between Kyiv and Budapest.
“Ukraine is not at war with Hungary, it is at war with Russia. It should be concerned about drones on its eastern border,” Orban said during a right-wing podcast interview.
“I trust my ministers, but let’s say the drones entered a few meters there—so what happened? Ukraine is not an independent state. Ukraine is not a sovereign state. It is financed by us, and the West also finances it with weapons,” Orban added.
In response to Orban’s comments, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the Hungarian leader “remains poisoned by Russian propaganda.”
Unlike most NATO and EU leaders, Orban has maintained friendly ties with Russia and has questioned the logic of Western military aid to Kyiv, a stance that has often put him at odds with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Last Friday, Zelensky stated that the reconnaissance drones that violated Ukrainian airspace were launched from Hungary to monitor industrial potential in the western border regions.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto denied the accusations, saying Zelensky “has gone crazy.”
As a signal of rising tensions between the two countries, Hungary announced on Monday that it would block access to 12 Ukrainian newspapers, following a similar move by Kyiv.
Earlier this month, Ukraine blocked several websites it considered pro-Russian, including eight Hungarian-language portals, among them a site known for its pro-Hungarian government stance.
