The European Union and Kyiv have drawn up an action plan to propel Ukraine on its path to EU membership despite official talks being blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, framing the move as essential to provide Kyiv with future security guarantees.

“We see the membership of Ukraine in the EU as the political arm of the European security guarantee for Ukraine,” the bloc's enlargement chief Marta Kos said on Thursday from an informal ministerial gathering in Lviv, Ukraine, adding that accession will be “central to make any peace settlement sustainable.”

The 10-point plan, outlined in a joint statement released by Kos and Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka, will see the EU executive bypass Hungary’s political veto on the official opening of accession negotiations — a

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