Alongside the increasingly tense military operations between Russians and Ukrainians after drone attacks in Saint Petersburg, Kyiv is scoring a diplomatic victory with the European Union.
European countries said they were ready to resume accession negotiations that had been blocked for months. Moldova is also involved; its bid to join the EU is strictly linked to that of Ukraine. The decision was taken by the 27 ambassadors of the Union in Brussels, but it is in reality a direct consequence of the lifting of the Hungarian veto.
This is another consequence of the departure of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the arrival at power in Budapest of reformer Péter Magyar.
Moreover, the government of the new Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced an agreement with the Ukrainian government for the protection of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, the westernmost oblast of Ukraine.
Since the Russian invasion of 2022, Viktor Orban’s government had revealed its veto on Ukraine’s candidacy, while that of Péter Magyar also aims to offer assurances to the Union, which had promised the thaw of 16 billion euros in European funds.
Beyond the intergovernmental conference in June 2025, nothing had progressed in Ukraine’s accession bid, opened four years ago.
