By Matina Stevis Gridneff and Steven Erlanger

BRUSSELS — Hungary on Friday (15) blocked the European Union from approving a financial aid package for Ukraine, although EU leaders agreed to officially open accession negotiations for Ukraine to join the bloc, an important breakthrough for Kyiv as it tries to bolster support from its allies.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said that all but one of the EU’s 27 countries backed the package of 50 billion euros (about $52 billion) in financial support for Ukraine.

“One leader couldn’t agree on this,” Michel said at an impromptu 3:00 a.m. news conference, referring to President Viktor Orban of Hungary. He said leaders would reconvene early next month to try to reach a unanimous agreement, which is required for the plan to go through.

Orban, who in the past has delayed some EU sanctions against Russia and is seen as President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the bloc, had said Thursday (14) that the aid should be extended only after Europe-wide elections planned for the summer.

The agreement on EU membership talks came at a crucial time for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, who had just returned from a bruising visit to the United States, where he pleaded for desperately needed money for his war effort that is being held up by political divisions in Congress.

Although accession to the EU would take years, the announcement Thursday was a symbolic win that was likely to anger Putin, who has decried Ukraine’s European ambitions as a form of aggression.

“This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires and strengthens,” Zelenskyy said on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the news.

At the start of the meeting Thursday, Orban said he planned to veto an official opening of the accession talks, arguing that Ukraine was not ready and that its entry would be bad for the bloc, and for Hungary.

But in the end, at the behest of Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Orban left the room when it was time to raise objections to opening the negotiations, allowing the decision to be reached while he effectively abstained.

Negotiations to join the bloc normally take a decade or longer and involve major reforms to align a candidate country with EU rules and standards. The EU also approved accession talks for Moldova, the impoverished neighbour to Ukraine’s south that is also threatened by Russia.

Ukraine is seen as a highly motivated candidate, and its government has been following EU requests for reforms. But it will still need to radically restructure parts of its governance and apply a raft of stringent rules in its economy, administration and justice systems to one day qualify for accession.

Ukraine can withstand a small delay in the approval of the aid package. The EU already has funding in place for Ukraine in its current budget, while the $52 billion is earmarked for a new aid package known as the Ukraine Facility that will provide grants and loans to the country from 2024 to 2027.

If Orban continues to block the funds, the EU can still create a trust with the other 26 member countries, which have all signalled their approval. But doing so would be cumbersome and would further illustrate the problems that Putin relishes: cracks in the group’s support for Ukraine.

“We have various tools in our toolbox to ensure that we deliver on our political promises,” Michel said when he was asked if the 26 EU leaders who agreed on aid for Ukraine could just leave Hungary out of the process.

Critics have said Hungary’s objections to Ukraine’s formal membership talks and long-term funding are best understood as an effort by Orban to extract EU funds earmarked for Hungary. That money has been frozen over its violation of different EU rules.

On Wednesday (13), the EU released 10 billion euros in such frozen aid. The European Commission, which authorized the release, said it had acted after Hungary had fulfilled demands for judicial reforms. The timing, on the eve of the crucial Ukraine summit, was a coincidence, officials insisted.

Critics decried the move as capitulating to Hungarian “blackmail”, a claim that Orban rejected. “We are here not to make business,” he said. “It’s not about a bargain. It’s not about a deal. We represent approaches and principles.”

He added: “Hungary does not connect any Hungarian issue to any Ukrainian or other issues.”

Still, in a further sign that he plans to continue upsetting Ukraine’s EU progress, Orban called the opening of formal negotiations a “bad decision.” Balazs Orban, one of his closest advisers, who is not related to the president, suggested on X that Hungary would have multiple opportunities over the course of the negotiations to disrupt Ukraine’s accession talks.

As the year comes to a close, pressure is growing in the United States and the EU to provide more support to Ukraine, despite political headwinds from powerful minorities.

Warnings have accelerated that the support is critical, with Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, saying Wednesday, “I do not think it’s hyperbole to say that basically the security of Europe is at stake, and therefore the risk of American men and women having to go deal with another massive war in Europe, as we have before if we don’t work with Ukraine to stop Russia.”

Also Wednesday, Scholz repeated Germany’s pledge to double aid to Ukraine to nearly $9 billion next year.

“Putin is still determined to bring Ukraine to its knees by military force,” he told the German parliament. “And he is counting on international support for Ukraine waning. Unfortunately, one cannot deny the danger that this calculation might work out.”

Even if the United States turns away from Ukraine — for instance, if former President Donald Trump returns to office — “Europe does not have that luxury,” said Nathalie Tocci, director of Italy’s Institute of International Affairs.

“We can’t say, ‘We’re tired, and please Russia take some more,’” she said. “I don’t see the Europeans stopping trying to aid Ukraine, even if our aid is not sufficient.”

With the Americans moving into a difficult election, “Europe needs to own Ukraine,” said Ulrich Speck, a German analyst, instead of feeling that “they participate in a US operation.”

“Europe needs to take responsibility,” he said. “The US is not going to do everything anymore.”

On Thursday evening, Kyiv, Ukraine, residents greeted the announcement of accession talks with a sigh of relief, describing it as a piece of good news in an otherwise sombre period for the country.

“It’s a signal that we’re not left out,” said Victoria Titova, 30, in a snow-covered street of central Kyiv. “It means that this country still has a future.”

Many Ukrainians see integration into the bloc as the only way to obtain guarantees of continued support against Russia’s aggression.

“Only the EU will be able to protect us,” said Slava Kosenko, 37. “It’s our only chance.”

-New York Times