Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to EU leaders via video during a rountable of the EU Summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on March 19, 2026.
GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT / POOL / AFP
On Thursday, Minister Gergely Gulyás announced retaliatory measures after Ukrainian public figures issued threats against Viktor Orbán.
The diplomatic rift between Budapest and Kyiv has reached a boiling point following the Hungarian government’s decision to bar several high-profile Ukrainian individuals from entering the country and the wider European Union.
Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás announced the “appropriate measures” on March 19th, citing a series of unacceptable threats directed at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, his family, and the nation’s security. Gulyás described the remarks by the Ukrainian nationals as being outside the “European cultural sphere,” justifying the immediate banning from Hungary and the Schengen area of those responsible for the incendiary rhetoric.
One of the people banned is former SBU officer Hryhoriy Omelchenko, who in an interview said the Ukrainian services know where Orbán lives, … whom he meets,” and even made chilling references to the Prime Minister’s children and grandchildren.
Major Yevhen Karas, the leader of the neo-Nazi group C14 (also known as ‘Sich’), who was decorated by Volodymyr Zelensky, has also been banned. He has recently stated that the Ukrainian military could “tear Hungary apart in minutes.”
Additionally, political scientist Boris Tiesenhausen was sanctioned for suggesting that after the war ends leaders who maintained energy ties with Moscow “will not get away with it,” specifically naming Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico.
As we reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also issued a veiled threat against the Hungarian prime minister in connection with his blocking of the €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine, saying he would give Orbán’s phone number to the Ukrainian military so they can “call and speak to him in their own language.”
