Ukraine said Friday that several reconnaissance drones crossed into its airspace along the border with Hungary and were “likely” Hungarian.
“Ukrainian forces recorded violations of our airspace by reconnaissance drones, which are likely Hungarian,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media.
He made the remarks after a military meeting with top officials, including Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky, Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal, the chief of the general staff, and a senior presidential aide.
Zelensky said the drones may have been gathering intelligence on industrial sites in border regions and ordered the military to review all available data and report on each incident immediately.
On the same day, Kyiv also barred the entry of three Hungarian military officials in a tit-for-tat move after Budapest imposed similar restrictions on Ukrainian military officials following the death of a Ukrainian of Hungarian descent in western Ukraine.
The latest incidents followed a series of diplomatic escalations between Kyiv and Budapest this year that started with Kyiv’s announcement of a Hungarian spy ring found in western Ukraine.
Hungary, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has often clashed with its European Union partners over Budapest’s ties to Moscow. Budapest has repeatedly blocked or delayed sanctions on Russia, resisted sending military aid to Ukraine, and opposed EU efforts to reduce dependence on Russian energy.
In a separate development this week, Hungarian Air Force Gripen fighters serving with NATO’s air policing mission were scrambled from Lithuania’s Šiauliai air base to intercept a Russian flight of five aircraft over the Baltic Sea west of Latvia, NATO’s Allied Air Command said Thursday in a statement on Facebook.
The Russian formation included three MiG-31 interceptors, supported by a Su-30SM and a Su-35 fighter, NATO said. The aircraft were flying close to NATO airspace without following international safety rules. The Hungarian jets returned safely to base after the Russian planes turned away.
The incident came six days after three Russian MiG-31s reportedly entered Estonian airspace and were confronted by Italian Air Force F-35s – an incursion Moscow denied, but which Western leaders described as a deliberate provocation.