Hungary has blocked €50bn ($55bn; £43bn) in EU aid for Ukraine hours after agreement was reached on starting membership talks.
“Summary of the nightshift: veto for the extra money to Ukraine,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted on social media after talks in Brussels.
EU leaders said talks on aid for Ukraine would resume early next year.
Ukraine is critically dependant on EU and US funding as it continues to fight occupying Russian forces.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Hungary has blocked €50bn ($55bn; £43bn) in EU aid for Ukraine hours after agreement was reached on starting membership talks.
“Summary of the nightshift: veto for the extra money to Ukraine,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted on social media after talks in Brussels.
The aid blocking was announced by Mr Orban shortly after the EU leaders decided to open membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant candidate status to Georgia.
Mr Orban left the negotiating room momentarily in what officials described as a pre-agreed and constructive manner, while the other 26 leaders went ahead with the vote.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the EU decision on membership talks as “a victory” for his country and “Europe”.
Commenting on Mr Orban’s opposition to the aid, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said: “We still have some time, Ukraine is not out of money in the next few weeks.”
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