With a €90 billion loan for Ukraine and a new round of sanctions against Russia now unblocked and finally approved, the focus at an informal summit in Cyprus is rapidly shifting to Hungary’s long-standing veto on Kyiv’s EU accession amid hopes of using political momentum in Budapest as a new government prepares to take office.

But Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted on Thursday that what Ukraine needs is full membership and not any kind of partial participation.

Speaking with the reporters on the presidential WhatsApp chat on his way to Cyprus, Zelenskyy rejected the idea of partial EU membership for Ukraine, saying “Ukraine does not need symbolic membership in the EU.”

“Ukraine is defending itself and is definitely defending Europe. And it is not defending Europe symbolically – people are really dying.”

He said Ukraine is defending “shared European values” and therefore believes the country deserves full membership in the 27-strong bloc of countries.

He admitted that there are discussions taking place on “different levels” regarding “various possible formats of Ukraine’s membership in the EU.”

“I want to thank all our partners, all leaders of the European Union: Germany, France, Poland, Romania, and all countries that truly support Ukraine’s fast-track membership in the European Union and are looking for ways to accelerate it. But here I would like to say: let’s be fair.”

“I would like to warn, first of all, our Ukrainian institutions: please do not look for symbolic EU membership for Ukraine. I do not support this. The people do not support it. What matters most is our people. We have already had enough symbolic unions – Budapest Memoranda, symbolic security guarantees, NATO, a symbolic path to NATO. We deserve full membership in different alliances and, of course, in the European Union.”

Ukraine’s EU accession has been at a standstill since July 2024, when Hungary took over the six-month presidency of the EU Council and made clear that Kyiv would not open a single negotiation cluster during the rotation.

Outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has since continued to block the opening of clusters, keeping the process in deadlock.

In a joint statement with Zelenskyy and the president of the European Commission upon arrival at the Cyprus summit, European Council President António Costa said by unblocking the €90 billion loan for Ukraine and the new round of sanctions against Russia the EU took “two very important steps in order to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”

“Now it’s time to look forward and to prepare the next step, and the next step is to open the first cluster of negotiations for the Ukrainian accession to the European Union.”

“We delivered on these two steps and we will deliver in the next step,” Costa insisted.

Fresh start for Ukraine

Speaking with EU News as EU leaders were gathering in Cyprus, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal said there is a chance for a “fresh start” in the EU accession process or Ukraine.

“So it will mean that you can start again and to be honest I cannot see any other way than Ukraine’s future is in Europe. That is definitely so. That will mean that the question is only when, not if and how,” he said.

Many EU leaders opposed what is often referred to as the “fast-tracked” process for Ukrainian membership, warning against any shortcuts.

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden said Ukraine belongs in the EU family, but stressed that it must first meet the bloc’s membership conditions.

“There are no shortcuts,” he said, adding that the “EU must continue to function on its fundamental values.”

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said “It’s not realistic for Ukraine to join the EU short-term.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration told EU News on Wednesday that Kyiv wants to proceed by the books, but without delays.

Commenting on the possible timeline Taras Kachka said: “I hope that this year we will hear that certain chapters can be treated as closed. That also brings the possibility next year to talk about broad integration into the internal market. Maybe, who knows, that things can be really fast, and next year we will close all chapters, and then we can talk about the treaty of accession.”