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.”
Responding to the announcement, Brovdi told Szijjártó he was “complicit in the multiplication of blood money” by campaigning to keep Russian oil flowing to Hungary.
“Shove your sanctions and restrictions on visiting Hungary up your ass,” he added, in a Facebook post.
Kyiv has vowed to respond to the move, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Thursday arguing the country would “take mirror action.”
Posted by John3262005