EU Seeks Ukraine Aid Deal With 26 Nations to Press Holdout Orban

  • Hungary’s Orban says he’s opposed to using EU budget for Kyiv
  • Ukraine tops agenda at two-day EU leaders summit in Brussels

Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, in Brussels on Thursday.

Photographer: Ksenia Kuleshova/Bloomberg
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All but one of the European Union’s 27 leaders were nearing agreement Thursday on a revision of the bloc’s long-term budget that would include a €50 billion ($55 billion) package for Ukraine, with Hungary the main holdout.

EU officials and diplomats from 26 nations want to clinch a deal on the review of the so-called multi-annual financial framework and then present it as a united front against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who remains the main obstacle to approving a new EU aid package for Kyiv that would start next year, according to people familiar with the matter.