Ambassadors will meet on Wednesday, May 4, and expect to give their final approval by the end of the week, several EU officials and diplomats involved in the process told the New York Times.
"The issue of Donbas is key," President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters hours before the talks began.
Orban cited a confidential document on Ukraine's accession allegedly presented at an EU summit in Brussels on the previous day.
Kyiv, home to more than 3 million people, is still reeling from the Jan. 20 attack in which Russia launched 33 missiles and 339 drones against Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent's Chris York speaks with Adam Entous, an investigative reporter at The New York Times, about his new investigation into the first year of U.S. President Donald Trump administration's peace efforts to end Russia's war against Ukraine.
A fire broke out at an oil depot in the Russian city of Penza following a Ukrainian drone attack overnight on Jan. 23.
"(Russian) army will number 2.5-3 million. They want to reach all of this by 2030, and, based on their speed, we see that this is possible," Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Describing the plan, which was first floated in December, as a "bundle of documents," President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expects progress to be made in the future.
Kyiv's utilities workers have reconnected 650 high-rise apartment buildings in the past day, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Jan. 23.
"We spoke with President Trump about additional anti-air missiles – the PAC-3s, against ballistics, which are what we need," Volodymyr Zelensky said. "I'm counting on a positive result."
Russia launched 101 drones, including roughly 60 Shahed-type deep-strike unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), into Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said.
"We are interested in resolving the (war) through political and diplomatic means. But until that happens, Russia will continue to pursue its goals on the battlefield," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
The number includes 1,280 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
