EU diplomats are discussing technical proposals to raise emergency funding for Ukraine outside of the bloc’s shared budget, as Hungary vowed it would not yield to pressure to drop its veto on a support package critical for Kyiv.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said he would block Brussels’ bid to provide a critical €50bn financial aid lifeline to Ukraine and approve formal talks on the country joining the EU at a summit of its leaders on Thursday. His stance comes in spite of efforts by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and other EU capitals to persuade him.
Failure by the EU to agree the proposed funding package would severely affect Ukraine’s financial stability, Ukrainian and European officials have warned. It would also mark the most egregious reversal in Brussels’ support since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, amid uncertainty over a similar-sized funding package in the US.