Hungary will impose sanctions on the Ukrainian military officer behind an attack on a key oil pipeline feeding the country, Budapest’s top envoy said Thursday, marking the latest step in an escalating feud between the two countries over Russian energy supplies.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said the commander would be banned from entering the country and the “entire Schengen area” after Ukrainian drones and rockets last week hit the Druzhba pipeline in Russia, which supplies over half of Budapest’s oil imports.
The officer was later confirmed as Robert Brovdi, a Hungarian-origin commander who heads the Unmanned Systems Forces in Ukraine’s army and is commonly known by the call sign “Madyar.”
“Ukraine knows very well that the Druzhba pipeline is vital for Hungary’s and Slovakia’s energy supply, and that such strikes harm us far more than Russia,” Szijjártó wrote on X. “Anyone who attacks our energy security and sovereignty must expect consequences.”
Kyiv has vowed to respond to the move, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Thursday arguing the country would “take mirror action.”
“How shameless to post this after a brutal attack by terrorist state Russia,” he wrote on X, referencing overnight missile and drone strikes by Moscow that killed at least 12 people and damaged the EU’s delegation building in Kyiv.
Oil supplies were fully restored on Thursday after Ukraine targeted the pipeline with three separate attacks last week, said Denisa Saková, Slovakia’s economy minister, which also imports oil via Druzhba.
A spokesperson for the European Commission on Thursday said the bloc’s security of supply “has not been affected” by the attacks, given capitals’ legal requirements to stockpile emergency oil reserves, but added: “Critical infrastructure should in our view be protected by all parties.”
The spat comes as relations between Ukraine and Hungary plummet to new lows amid Budapest’s continued opposition to Kyiv’s bid to join the bloc and its long-standing purchases of Russian oil and gas — a key source of revenue for Moscow’s war effort.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested the future of the pipeline would depend on Hungary’s behavior toward Kyiv.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has implied Budapest could cut off power supplies to Kyiv, while Hungary and Slovakia have also demanded the EU take action over the attacks in a joint letter sent last week.
The Commission spokesperson said Brussels was in touch with Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia over the incidents and would respond to the missive “in due time.”