Senior EU officials have vowed to ensure Ukraine gets €18bn in financial aid, after Hungary vetoed the release of the funds.

The European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters that the EU must keep its promises to Ukraine.

"Ukraine is a country at war. It desperately needs our support and we just cannot allow one member state to derail or delay this financial support", he said.

Earlier Viktor Orbán’s government was accused of “holding hostage” funds for Ukrainian hospitals and “cynical obstructionism” after Hungary confirmed on Tuesday that it would block €18bn of aid for Ukraine.

The EU has promised to underwrite €18bn in cheap loans to Kyiv to keep Ukraine’s government afloat in 2023. The EU’s 26 other member states will now study how to move ahead without Hungary, although hope Budapest can be persuaded to change its mind.

The move by the Orbán government is widely seen as an attempt to gain leverage in separate disputes over Hungary’s access to €13bn EU funds.