HUNGARY will block a proposal to start talks on European Union membership for Ukraine at a summit of the bloc’s leaders this week, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today.

Mr Orban also said that admitting the war-ravaged country would have unforeseeable consequences for the EU.

EU leaders are expected to vote on whether to begin membership talks for Ukraine during a summit in Brussels that begins on Thursday but Mr Orban has insisted that he will block the proposal, which requires a unanimous decision by the leaders of all the bloc’s 27 countries.

Speaking to politicians in Hungary’s parliament today, Mr Orban said that the time for bringing Ukraine into the EU had “not yet come,” and that the development of a strategic partnership with Kiev should be a prerequisite for beginning membership talks.

“We are interested in a peaceful and prosperous Ukraine, but this requires the establishment of peace as quickly as possible, and a deliberate deepening of the strategic partnership,” Mr Orban said, adding that such a process could take “a number of years.”

“Everything has its appointed time, but the time for Ukraine’s membership in the European Union has not yet come,” he said.

Hungary has also signalled that it will veto a financial aid package for Kiev worth €50 billion (around £43bn).