EU to decide on Ukraine membership talks, as Hungary threatens veto

A failure by the EU to start accession talks with Ukraine would have wider consequences, according to Ian Bond at the Centre for European Reform.

“The psychological impact would be quite considerable, because it will give a boost to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin who will think that, in fact, the West has not fully accepted that Ukraine should be part of the Western camp. And it will be psychologically damaging within Ukraine because people have built up this hope that they have been accepted as part of the family,” Bond told VOA.