Ukraine says it has expelled two Hungarian diplomats hours after the country’s main security agency said that it had arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Hungary by gathering intelligence on Ukraine’s military in the west of the country.

Hungary's foreign ministry then responded to the allegations by expelling two Ukrainian diplomats, accusing them of engaging in Ukraine's own espionage activities. The incident marks the first time in Ukraine's history that a Hungarian espionage operation had been discovered,

Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region borders Hungary and is home to a Hungarian minority. Over the past decade, Hungary has maintained that Kyiv is limiting the cultural and linguistic rights of the Hungarian population,