Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin at Askold's Grave commemorating the peaceful passage of the Hungarians|150px depicting the Hungarian stay in Kyiv in
Verecke Pass,
Zakarpattia As told by the
Primary Chronicle, the first interactions between the Hungarians and
Kievan Rus' occurred towards the end of the
9th century during the
Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, at
Askold's Grave in
Kyiv. During the Hungarian migration from the
Ural Mountains to the
Pannonian Basin, the Hungarians crossed the
Dnieper river near Kyiv, the capital of Kievan Rus'. There, they stayed at the site of
Askold's grave, eventually passing peacefully through the city. During the
Middle Ages, the location of Askold's Grave became known in Ukrainian as ''Uhors'ke urochyshche'' (), in memory of the Hungarian passage through the area, and retains that name today. In 895, the Hungarians entered the
Pannonian Basin through the
Verecke Pass in the
Carpathian Mountains (today in Ukraine), where they went on to establish the
Kingdom of Hungary. In 1996, the Hungarian government received permission from Ukraine to install a monument commemorating the 1100th anniversary of the passing of the Hungarians through the Verecke Pass and the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. Completed in 2008 by Hungarian sculptor Péter Matl, the structure sits on the border of
Lviv and
Zakarpattia oblasts near the village of
Klymets. During the
Hungarian invasions of Europe of the
10th century, the Hungarians and Kievan Rus' at various times found themselves allied with one another. In
943, Rus' forces provided support for a Hungarian offensive against the
Byzantine Empire, which culminated in the purchasing of peace by
Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos. During the final Hungarian invasion of Europe, in
970,
Grand Prince of Kiev Sviatoslav I attacked the Byzantine Empire with supporting Hungarian auxiliary troops, eventually facing defeat at the
Battle of Arcadiopolis and effectively concluding the Hungarian invasions of Europe.
Carpatho-Ukraine In 1939, in the aftermath of the breakup of the
Second Czechoslovak Republic, the formerly autonomous
Carpatho-Ukraine declared independence on 15 March. The same day, the
Kingdom of Hungary occupied and annexed the territory. Over the course of a few days, the 40,000 strong Hungarian army overpowered the limited forces of the newly proclaimed unrecognized state, which had only 2,000 troops. By the 18th, Hungarian forces took full control of the territory of Carpatho-Ukraine. In the chaos that followed, an estimated 27,000 Ukrainian civilians were killed.
2017 language law (red) In September 2017, then-president of Ukraine
Petro Poroshenko signed the
2017 Ukrainian Education Law, which had previously been adopted by the
Ukrainian parliament. The new law made Ukrainian the required language of study for all state schools in Ukraine past the fifth grade, reversing a
2012 law signed by ousted former Ukrainian president
Viktor Yanukovych that allowed regions with an
ethnic minority making up more than ten percent of the population to use
minority languages in education. Although mainly intended to discourage the use of
Russian in public education, the policy meant that schools in
Hungarian majority areas of
Zakarpattia, including many funded directly by the Hungarian government, would be forced to stop teaching in the Hungarian language. In October of 2018, Ukrainian politician
Iryna Farion compared ethnic Hungarians to "dogs who cannot learn the language of
Stepan Bandera", she said "Do we need these idiots in Ukraine? Why should I feed them?" and suggested they "go back to Hungary!" The change in rules served as the catalyst for the rapid deterioration of relations between Hungary and Ukraine. Immediately after the adoption of the law,
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó announced that Hungary would block all further integration of Ukraine into
NATO and the
European Union and offered to "guarantee that all this will be painful for Ukraine in future." This marked a significant shift in Hungarian foreign policy towards Ukraine, as it had previously supported stronger Ukrainian integration into NATO and the European Union and advocated for
visa-free travel between Ukraine and the European Union, largely in order to make travel to Hungary easier for the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. Following through on its promises, in October 2017, Hungary vetoed and effectively blocked the convening of a NATO-Ukraine commission meeting. In response, Ukrainian officials announced concessions to some Hungarian demands, most notably extending the transition period until the implementation of the language law to 2023.
Berehove military base In March 2018, the Ukrainian government announced a plan to restore a military base in the ethnic Hungarian-majority border town of
Berehove, situated ten kilometers from the
Hungarian border. The plan called for the permanent placement of 800 Ukrainian troops from the
10th Mountain Assault Brigade and the
128th Mountain Assault Brigade at the base. Ukrainian officials faced immediate backlash from the Hungarian government after the announcement.
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó restated that Hungary would block any further Ukrainian integration into
NATO or the
European Union until Hungarian concerns were addressed, and called the placement of the base in a mostly
ethnic Hungarian area "disgusting."
Hungarian passport distribution In September 2018, an undercover video that showed diplomats in the Hungarian consulate in
Berehove granting
Hungarian citizenship and distributing
Hungarian passports to Ukrainian citizens sparked new tensions between the two nations. The video, published by
Ukrinform, captured recipients of new passports reciting an oath of allegiance to Hungary and singing the
Hungarian national anthem. Because voluntarily obtaining a foreign citizenship while failing to renounce Ukrainian citizenship is illegal according to
Ukrainian nationality law, Hungarian diplomats instructed new citizens to hide their possession of Hungarian passports from Ukrainian authorities. In response to the incident, the
Foreign Ministry of Ukraine declared the local Hungarian
consul in Berehove
persona non grata, expelling him from Ukrainian territory and accusing him of violating the
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In turn, Hungary announced the expulsion of a Ukrainian consul in
Budapest and reiterated threats to block Ukraine's further accession to
NATO and the
European Union.
2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election In the run-up to the
2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Hungarian officials attempted on numerous occasions to influence the results in favor of candidates backed by the
Party of Hungarians of Ukraine, a political party active in
Zakarpattia Oblast. Specifically, the Hungarian government worked to sway voters in favor of party leader Vasyl Brenzovych and two other candidates contesting seats in the
Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. The party received direct payments in the form of Hungarian grant money, and the
Hungarian Development Bank spent 800,000
Hungarian forints (about 2,400
Euros at the time) paying for billboards supporting the organization in violation of Ukrainian law. Throughout July 2019, a number of top Hungarian figures visited Zakarpattia in order to hold rallies and lobby voters for the party's candidates, including
Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó. Around the same time, party leader and parliamentary candidate Vasyl Brenzovych visited
Budapest to attend a meeting with
Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán. Despite the extensive efforts, none of the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine's candidates were ultimately elected. In response to the meddling, the Ukrainian government accused Hungary of violating the
Charter of the United Nations and
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The deal will provide 4.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Hungary annually through the newly constructed
TurkStream pipeline; under the contract, 3.5 billion cubic meters will be transported through Serbia and 1 billion cubic meters will go through Austria, making up about half of Hungary's natural gas consumption. By bypassing Ukraine entirely, the new route strips Ukraine of millions of dollars in profits from transit fees on Russian natural gas shipments to central and western Europe, on which it is economically reliant. The agreement sparked new tensions between Hungary and Ukraine. Shortly after the contract was signed, the
Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement deriding the deal as politically motivated and economically unreasonable, meant solely to please the
Kremlin, and intended to harm the national interests of Ukraine and Hungary–Ukraine relations. The statement also accused Hungary of violating the Treaty on Good Neighborliness and Cooperation between Ukraine and Hungary of 6 December 1991, suspended the Joint Ukrainian-Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, and called for a
European Commission investigation into the deal's compliance with European
energy law. In turn,
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Hungary's ambassador to Ukraine in a
tit for tat move, reiterated its position that the agreement undermines Ukraine's national security and the energy security of Europe, and said that it would take "decisive measures" to protect its interests. In December 2021, the Hungarian government reversed course, signing an agreement to transport up to 2.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas through Ukraine annually on top of the Gazprom deal. Alongside a larger deal with
Slovakia, the new contract will increase Ukraine's guaranteed natural gas exports by nearly 30%. However, in the leadup to the
2022 Hungarian parliamentary election, Orbán avoided directly criticizing Russian president
Vladimir Putin, and expressed opposition to potential blockades of Russian oil and gas, on which Hungary relies. During the election, Orbán and Fidesz portrayed the election as a choice between peace or war, with Fidesz for peace and the opposition for war. During his victory speech on 3 April, Orbán said that Ukrainian president
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was one of the "opponents" that he had overcome in order to win the parliamentary elections. On 6 April, Hungary signaled its intent to agree to pay for Russian gas in
rubles, breaking ranks with the rest of the European Union. In early May, Hungary said that it would veto a proposed European Union sanctions package against the Russian energy sector. Explaining his country's opposition to the sanctions,
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó said that "Hungary’s energy supply cannot be endangered because no one can expect us to allow the price of the war [in Ukraine] to be paid by Hungarians". On 1 May,
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, accused Hungary of having advance knowledge of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying that Vladimir Putin had warned the Hungarian government ahead of time, and that Hungary had plans to
annex parts of
Zakarpattia Oblast in
Western Ukraine, which lies on the border with Hungary. Hungarian officials condemned Danilov's accusation as false, and expressed outrage over his claims. Hungary has accepted many refugees from Ukraine, some of them travelled on to other EU countries. In 2023, apparent classified U.S. intelligence documents released in the
2022–2023 Pentagon document leaks included a note of a conversation between the President of Ukraine and Deputy Prime Minister
Yulia Svyrydenko in which
Volodymyr Zelensky suggested blowing up the Druzhba pipeline to hit Hungarian industry, as
Orbán's government was too friendly towards the Kremlin during the Russo-Ukrainian War. In June 2023, considerable tensions arose between the two nations from a transfer of eleven Ukrainian
POWs from the
Russian Federation to Hungary without the involvement of Ukrainian officials. Later three of this group were sent back to Ukraine. According by Ukrainian authorities the prisonsers reportedly srom Zakarpattia Oblast and of Hungary ethnicity, were allegedly moved under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church allegedly request of Budapest, the claims have not been independently confirmed. The
Hungarian foreign ministry denied that it had knowledge of such a transfer, but Ukrainian government sources claimed otherwise, as the men had no access to open source information during the process. Later on 15 July, Hungarian President
Katalin Novák accepted an invitation by Kyiv for a visit on 23 August for the
Crimean Platform with a prior stop in the Zakarpattia Oblast. In July 2024, Zelensky decided to shut down the overland pipeline transfer of petroleum products from Russia to Hungary. Orbán and his government protested this event strenuously. On May 9, 2025, a pair of alleged Hungarian spies were caught in
Zakarpattia Oblast and arrested on the initiative of the
Security Service of Ukraine. On 5 March 2026, Russia released two ethnic Hungarian prisoners of war (dual citizens of Hungary and Ukraine) directly to Budapest, a move condemned by Kyiv as a "provocation". Hungary's foreign minister stated that the two prisoners of war had previously asked help from Hungary. The transfer drew attention to longstanding tensions between the Hungarian government and Ukraine over the rights of the Transcarpathian Hungarian minority, including disputes over language rights and Hungarian accusations that Kyiv is continuously
conscripting ethnic Hungarians into military service. On 6 March 2026, The
European Commission rebuked Ukrainian President Zelenskyy over threats against Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán.
Conscripting László Brenzovics, president of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association stated that the situation of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia has deteriorated dramatically in recent years, and that Hungarian–Ukrainian relations are becoming increasingly tense. According to his information, by March 2026 around 500 ethnic Hungarian men from Transcarpathia had been conscripted, and the number of deaths may be around 100. In many cases, relatives have received no news about the conscripted soldiers for years; the military authorities merely inform them that the individual is missing. He claims that forced conscription is ongoing in Ukraine, with what he described as "manhunts" and "abductions taking place in the streets". There have reportedly been frequent cases in which multiple ethnic Hungarian men were taken by force, including individuals who had medical exemptions or occupational deferments. Recruiters, he said, are often unconcerned even if their targets are injured or killed. In July 2025, Hungary imposed an entry ban on Ukrainian military officials amid a diplomatic dispute caused by the
death of József Sebestyén an ethnic Hungarian from
Transcarpathia with a
dual Hungarian-Ukrainian citizen who died in disputed circumstances following his mobilization into the Ukrainian military, he was allegedly beaten with iron bars by Ukrainian recruitment officers. On 2 March 2026, Hungarian Foreign Minister
Péter Szijjártó summoned the Ukrainian ambassador, stating that two Ukrainian citizens of Hungarian ethnicity had been wrongly conscripted. He described the Ukrainian process as "ongoing violent conscriptions and the ongoing open street-level manhunt".
Accession of Ukraine to the European Union On June 21, 2022, Zelenskyy called Viktor Orbán by phone to discuss
Ukraine's integration into the EU. The Hungarian Prime Minister indicated that he is open to helping the country and supporting its status as a candidate for EU membership. The Council of the European Union voted to begin accession negotiations with Ukraine in December 2023. These talks were preceded by a significant revision by the Ukrainian government in December 2023 to legislation on national minorities in Ukraine, which addressed recommendations from the Council of Europe's Venice Commission regarding the legislation. Previously, the Hungarian government (specifically
Balázs Orbán, political advisor to the Hungarian Prime Minister) had indicated that, without improvement to Ukrainian legislation on national minority rights, Hungary would not support Ukraine's desire for EU accession. After the revision to the Ukrainian national minorities legislation,
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó noted that it represented an improvement but suggested that national minority legislation was not yet entirely satisfactory to Hungary. The revised Ukrainian national minority legislation includes, according to a summary of legislation by
Rubryka, the right of "[r]epresentatives of national minorities" to "receive basic and specialized secondary education in their respective languages" and the right of private universities "to choose a language of teaching" provided that it is an official language of the European Union. In June 2025, Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán announced Hungary's opposition to Ukraine's accession negotiations with the
European Union and
NATO. ==Diplomatic missions==