Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday blocked €50 billion in EU aid for Ukraine, after leaders side-stepped his opposition to agree to open talks with Kyiv on joining the bloc.

A crunch summit in Brussels broke up after a day of wrangling as the Hungarian leader refused to greenlight funding to help prop up Ukraine’s government over the next four years.

“Summary of the nightshift: veto for the extra money to Ukraine,” Mr Orban wrote on Twitter.

The EU’s other 26 leaders agreed to come back to the debate at a fresh meeting early next year to try to thrash out an agreement on the desperately needed support for Kyiv.

“With 26 countries we agree. There is no agreement from Hungary at the moment, but I am very confident for next year,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.

The blockage from the Hungarian nationalist dealt a blow to Kyiv and its backers only hours after they had celebrated the bloc taking the symbolic step of agreeing to open membership talks.

Kyiv is urgently trying to change the narrative that backing from its Western allies is waning as doubts swirl over support from the United States.

Mr Orban had also opposed starting talks, but agreed to step out of the negotiating room to allow the other EU leaders to take a consensus decision without him.

In a video posted to social media, the veteran leader denounced “a completely senseless, irrational and wrong decision” but complained that “26 other countries have insisted this decision be taken”.

The other EU leaders hailed the move - which also included agreeing to launch accession talks with Moldova - as a crucial moment.

“Historic day! Against all odds, we achieved a decision,” wrote Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who did not attend the knife-edge summit, called the decision “a victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens”.

And Moldova’s President Maia Sandu said her country had turned “a new page today with the EU’s go-ahead for accession talks. Moldova is ready to rise to the challenge”.

The agreement to open membership negotiations with Kyiv does not mean that Ukraine will be joining the EU anytime soon.

Before the talks can be launched, EU states must agree on a negotiating framework - giving Mr Orban ample opportunity to stall the process again.