The EU's top diplomat has said she did not expect to get a deal on new Russia sanctions after Hungary vowed to block them unless Ukraine reopens a key oil pipeline.
The 27-nation bloc has been pushing to impose a new round of economic punishment on Moscow for Tuesday's fourth anniversary of the Kremlin's offensive.
"I think there is not going to be progress regarding this today, but we will definitely make this push," Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, said at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Sunday that Budapest would veto sanctions until the Druzhba pipeline is reopened.
"As long as it doesn't happen, there will be no change in the Hungarian position," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told journalists as he arrived for the Brussels meeting.
Ukraine says the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses its territory to deliver Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary, was damaged on January 27 by Russian strikes.
"I am astonished by the Hungarian position. We will discuss this with our Hungarian colleagues," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said. But he added he was "confident that, at the end of the day, we will be successful".
'Shocking'
Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said "there is no actual reason to block" sanctions as the pipeline closure was Russia's fault, not Ukraine's.
"If we are not able to put the sanctions on Russia, then Russia will be happy," he said.
Poland's top diplomat, Radoslaw Sikorski, called the Hungarian position "shocking".
Beyond the sanctions, Budapest has also thrown a last-minute spanner in the works of a 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) EU loan for Ukraine, desperately needed to keep Kiev afloat.
Hungary has repeatedly stalled EU measures on Ukraine during the four-year conflict, and Orban's hardline stance comes as he fights for political survival in an election this April.
The EU has already imposed 19 rounds of sanctions on Moscow over its war with Ukraine.
Brussels has proposed banning shipping services for Russian crude oil as part of the latest sanctions in a bid to further curb Moscow's revenues.
