BRUSSELS, Dec 14 - In a dramatic twist, Ukraine and Moldova got the green light to start EU membership talks after days of hardballing from Hungary. Viktor Orban insisted Kyiv was not ready, but let the rest of the bloc sign off without him.

An EU summit in Brussels delivered an unexpected piece of welcome news at a bleak moment of the Russia-Ukraine war. Kyiv can soon begin official talks to join the European Union after getting the green light from the bloc's leaders on Thursday. Hungary, which had been threatening to veto the decision, stood aside at the last minute, DW reported.

"This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Few had expected such a decisive outcome at the gathering of EU leaders in Brussels. Ahead of the two-day summit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had been pounding home his message that Ukraine was not ready to open accession negotiations — the first step in a long, winding and uncertain path to join the EU.

Orban arrived at the meeting guns blazing, repeating that his country was against opening talks with Ukraine as the sole opponent among the 27 member states.

"There is no reason to negotiate membership of Ukraine now," Orban told reporters, arguing that Kyiv had not fulfilled all the requirements set out by the European Commission in June 2022 in areas like tackling corruption, ensuring minority rights and reducing the influence of oligarchs.

He said he would also not sign off on an EU budget top-up, including ?50 billion ($55 billion) of fresh aid for Kyiv over four years. He added, however, that he would consider this being financed from outside the budget.

Nine hours later, however, European Council President Charles Michel announced a surprise breakthrough on X: The European Council decided to open accession negotiations with both Ukraine and Moldova and also to grant fellow aspirant Georgia candidate status, an important precursor to opening accession negotiations.

Within the hour, Orban had posted a video message on the same platform. "It is a completely irrational and incorrect decision to start negotiations with Ukraine," he said. "On the other hand, the other 26 countries insisted that this decision be made… for this reason, Hungary did not participate in this decision."

Diplomatic sources told DW that Orban had left the room at the proposal of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This cleared the way for the remaining 26 states to vote with no one in the room to object to the decision.

EU accession negotiation — even after they start — can often take years or even decades to complete.

Under EU rules, member states must agree unanimously on important matters like accession to the bloc. While abstentions are technically allowed under these unanimity rules, the 27 member states often stay up late into the night seeking consensus at summits. Orban's absence was a rare deviation from this norm.

Back in November, the European Commission recommended starting talks with Ukraine. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the country had satisfied 90% of the criteria, praising Ukraine for recent efforts to reform its judiciary and anti-money laundering system against the backdrop of war with Russia. (dw/ez)