European Union leaders at a summit in Cyprus agreed that the first negotiations for Ukraine to join the bloc could start in the coming weeks and months, Bloomberg News reported, citing an EU official.
The progress follows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's defeat in the parliamentary election this month. Hungary previously blocked Ukraine's path to joining the EU.
But there was no commitment on a date for Ukraine's accession. The membership process for Croatia, the last country to join the EU, took about a decade.
Ahead of the Cyprus summit, France and Germany reportedly pitched the idea of an "associate membership" option for Ukraine. Under this plan, Ukraine would integrate into EU programs gradually and attend the bloc's meetings, but wouldn't have voting rights.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the idea. "Ukraine does not need symbolic membership in the EU," he said. "Ukraine is defending itself and is definitely defending Europe. It is not defending Europe symbolically."
Estonia backs Ukraine's full membership in the EU, Prime Minister Kristen Michal told Bloomberg in an interview, "because, to be honest, there's no other way."
The renewed push for Ukraine's EU membership comes as the bloc finalized a €90B ($105.18B) loan to the country after Hungary lifted its veto. The loan, which will help cover Ukraine's budgetary and defense industrial capacity needs in 2026 and 2027, is to be repaid by Russia's reparations to Ukraine.
