European Union member Hungary will waive fees for long-stay visas for citizens of neighbouring Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today.
EU member states on November 17 approved visa-free travel for Ukrainians but this still has to be approved by the European Parliament.
Orban said after meeting Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman in Budapest that while waiting for this approval his country would offer long-term visas for free.
"After the three hard years that Ukraine has gone through in the name of European values, the EU has a moral obligation to grant visa-free access to Ukraine," Orban said.
"Unfortunately, as (other EU countries) are blocking this, Hungary has decided from today to grant D type or national visas free of charge to Ukrainian citizens," Orban told a joint news conference.
D type visas allow people to stay in the country for longer than 90 days and to travel around Europe's Schengen zone, albeit with certain time restrictions.
Visa-free travel, long sought by Kiev as it battles pro-Russian rebels in the country's industrial east, was part of an EU-Ukraine partnership accord signed in 2014 that angered Moscow.
In return for closer political and economic ties, the EU has demanded civil society reforms to root out corruption and ensure that Ukraine's rights and democratic standards match those in the bloc.
Orban asked his Ukrainian counterpart to examine as soon as possible when the move can be reciprocated for Hungarian citizens travelling to Ukraine.
His announcement came as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met EU officials in Brussels to discuss the reforms demanded by the bloc, as well as the implications of Donald Trump's US election victory.
EU President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker both expressed optimism that the EU would approve visa-free travel by the end of 2016.
"We are very satisfied with the tempo and the quality of the reform process, Ukraine is delivering," Juncker said.
Groysman thanked Hungary, saying Budapest's move "will be very favourably received in Ukraine".
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