During a two-day summit, leaders of the European Union made a surprising decision to begin membership discussions with Ukraine and Moldova, marking a significant step forward for both countries.

The choice was commended by European Council President Charles Michel, who deemed it a “promising sign for both their citizens and our continent.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared it as “a triumph for Ukraine and Europe as a whole.”

Despite Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s weeks of promising to prevent talks on Ukraine from progressing, the decision has still been made to move forward with them.

Orban chose not to vote, explaining that he did not wish to be involved in a decision that he believed was unfavorable. He was the only leader who did not support initiating negotiations for membership with Ukraine and Moldova.

Orban justified his disapproval of allowing further talks with Ukraine by saying that Ukraine had not met three conditions, without specifying. “So, there is no need to negotiate membership of Ukraine now.”

This is planned to be the final EU meeting of the year, with the following one scheduled for March.

European Union leaders stated that failure to support Ukraine by the end of this year may be interpreted as a triumph for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Michel stated that the EU has granted candidacy status to Georgia and will consider a bid from Bosnia-Herzegovina once it fulfills the necessary criteria for compliance.

Certain details are sourced from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters.