Ukraine accuses Hungary of taking hostage bank employees who were carrying $82 million

Ukraine accuses Hungary of detaining bank employees carrying $82 million, escalating tensions amid an oil dispute between the countries.

Ukraine accused Hungary on Friday (March 6, 2026) of "taking hostage" seven ​employees of its state savings bank who were carrying around $82 million in ⁠cash and gold, as Budapest vowed to stop transit shipments to the war-torn country amid an oil dispute.

Kyiv and Budapest are locked in an increasingly bitter row over an outage of the Druzhba pipeline ‌which supplies Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia. They are the only EU countries still importing Russian oil due to EU sanctions.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii ‌Sybiha said the employees of Oschadbank had been transporting cash from Austria back ‌to Ukraine ⁠via Hungary when they were detained. He said their whereabouts were currently ⁠unknown.

"In fact, we are talking about Hungary taking hostages and stealing money," Mr. Sybiha wrote on X. "This is state terrorism and racketeering."

He said Ukraine had sent an official note demanding the immediate release of its citizens and would ​ask the European Union to "provide a clear ‌qualification of Hungary’s unlawful actions".

The Hungarian Foreign Ministry, police and a government spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comments.