Ask Onix
Hungary detains Ukrainian bank workers on suspicion of money laundering
Hungarian authorities have arrested seven Ukrainian nationals and seized two cash-transport vehicles carrying $80 million and 9 kilograms of gold, escalating tensions between Budapest and Kyiv. Ukraine's foreign ministry condemned the detentions as "state terrorism" and demanded their immediate release.
Ukraine accuses Hungary of hostage-taking
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated on X that the reasons for the arrests remain unclear, as does the well-being of the detained individuals. "We have already sent an official note demanding an immediate release of our citizens," Sybiha wrote.
Ukraine's state-owned Oschadbank confirmed the workers were transporting cash and gold between Austria and Ukraine as part of a routine operation. The bank called the detentions "unjustifiable," noting GPS data showed the vehicles in Budapest.
Hungary alleges broader financial irregularities
Hungary's National Tax and Customs Administration announced it was conducting criminal proceedings, revealing one of the detained individuals is a former general of Ukraine's intelligence service. The agency claimed that over $900 million, €420 million, and 146 kilograms of gold had been transported through Hungary to Ukraine this year alone.
Hungarian counter-terrorism units, dressed in black, raided the Ukrainian-registered vehicles on Thursday, escorting the convoy to Budapest, according to local reports.
Diplomatic tensions escalate over Russian oil and EU aid
The detentions come amid a deepening rift between Ukraine and Hungary, centered on the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian oil to Hungary. Kyiv halted oil flows in January after a Russian airstrike damaged the pipeline, a move Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has framed as deliberate.
"Transit shipments important to Ukraine will be halted until the row over Russian oil supplies is sorted out," Orbán said during his weekly radio address, without mentioning the detained bank workers.
Orbán, perceived as Russia's closest ally within the EU, has blocked a €90 billion EU aid package for Ukraine, demanding the resumption of oil deliveries. He has argued that EU funding prolongs the war and has made anti-Ukraine rhetoric a cornerstone of his re-election campaign.
Zelensky and Orbán trade barbs
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Orbán's blockade of EU aid and suggested the Druzhba pipeline might remain closed for another four to six weeks. "To be honest, I would not restore it. This is my position," Zelensky said, adding that supplying Russian oil to Hungary while Ukrainians are under attack was unacceptable.
"Russians are killing Ukrainians and we have to give oil to Orbán, because he, the poor thing, cannot win the election without this oil."
Volodymyr Zelensky
Zelensky also warned that if Orbán continued to obstruct EU funding, Ukrainian forces would be given his address to "communicate with him in their own language."
Orbán has vowed to use "political and financial tools" to pressure Ukraine into reopening the pipeline, which supplies Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia. Shipments have been suspended since January 27.
Separate dispute over dual citizens adds to tensions
In a related development, Hungary secured the release of two ethnic Hungarian prisoners of war from Russian custody this week. The men, from Ukraine's Transcarpathia region, hold dual Hungarian-Ukrainian citizenship. Budapest accused Kyiv of conscripting them into the Ukrainian army, while Kyiv called their transfer to Hungary a "gross violation of international humanitarian law."
