Robert Brovdi Is No Hero — At Least Not for Hungary

‘In my view—and in that of the free world—Brovdi is a hero whom a Kremlin-serving Szijjártó has no right to speak against. That is why the time has come for action, to show that the Hungarian people are not the same as the Putinist Orbán government,’ MP of the far-left progressive Momentum party Márton Tompos wrote on Facebook last week. In his post, Tompos urged Hungarians to donate to the 414th Drone Reconnaissance Battalion, known as ‘Magyar’s Birds’—a unit founded and formerly commanded by Robert Brovdi.

Brovdi made headlines in August, when Ukraine launched an unprecedented drone campaign striking key points of the Druzhba oil pipeline on a daily basis. As a result of these strikes, oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia were halted for at least five days last month. Druzhba is a vital artery in both countries’ energy security, as they import a significant share of their oil from Russia. The repeated attacks further eroded Hungarian–Ukrainian relations, prompting Budapest to issue an entry ban on Brovdi, who now serves as commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Brovdi is also a member of the Hungarian minority community in Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine.

Reacting to the ban last week, Brovdi issued a furious statement: ‘Stick your sanctions and restrictions on visiting Hungary up your ass, Mr “dancer on bones”. I am Ukrainian, and I will arrive in my Father’s Homeland after you. There are enough true Magyars in Hungary, and someday you will screw them over. And as for the Schengen restrictions—don’t take on more than you can handle—you have a strange sense of humour. And special agents are not in the Top-10, so get in line for now.’

He went further, accusing Hungary of complicity in Russia’s war: ‘You are not protecting Hungary’s sovereignty, but your own dirty pockets, filled with sanctioned cheap raw materials, by buying which you are complicit in multiplying bloody money that flies back as missiles and Shaheds to peaceful cities of Ukraine and only today, 28 August 2025, killed dozens of Ukrainians in Kyiv. Your limbs are up to the elbows in Ukrainian blood. And we will remember that,’ Brovdi concluded, framing his response as the ‘reaction of a serviceman, a citizen of Ukraine’.

Even though Tompos is only the former president of Momentum—a party not competing in the 2026 parliamentary elections and whose support has dwindled to around 1 per cent—his statement reflects the attitude of a significant segment of the Hungarian opposition. This political bloc insists that measures taken against Hungary are not directed at the Hungarian people, but solely at the Orbán government. The same narrative is now visible with Brovdi and the Druzhba strikes as with the case of EU funds withheld from Hungary: those who hail Brovdi as a ‘hero’ are often the same who cheer the EU’s withholding of billions of euros from the country over largely unfounded accusations.

Looking deeper, however, certain facts need to be pointed out to put the ‘Brovdi is a hero of Hungary’ narrative into context. First of all, Brovdi may be a hero—but only of Ukraine, not Hungary. His own words make this clear: he repeatedly identifies himself as a ‘citizen of Ukraine’, never once emphasizing his Hungarian origins.

Second, Brovdi is clearly being instrumentalized by Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration as a political tool against Hungary. He poses a direct threat to Hungary’s energy security. Those who argue that the Ukrainian strikes are legitimate because they might accelerate Hungary’s energy diversification are only partly correct. Energy imports must indeed be diversified—but such a process should follow rational calculations and only proceed if alternative supplies are more affordable. That is currently not the case, as no alternative to Russian oil is economically viable for Hungary.

‘He poses a direct threat to Hungary’s energy security’

Third, Ukraine is in breach of multiple treaties and principles of international law by targeting the Druzhba pipeline. What makes this even more outrageous is that the damage inflicted on Russia in these attacks is minimal, while the consequences for Hungary and Slovakia are severe. Moreover, the resources expended on such strikes are diverted from the frontlines, a move both foolish and cruel towards Ukrainian soldiers fighting and dying as Russia continues its slow but steady advance.

Finally—and most importantly—no reasonable person with a sound moral compass can glorify a military commander who acts against his own homeland. Brovdi is not acting against the Orbán government, but against Hungary itself—against its people, their security, and their interests. Anyone who wages attacks on our homeland cannot, under any circumstances, be celebrated as a hero.

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