The European Union on Tuesday opened up a second area of membership negotiations with Ukraine, as Kyiv pushes for faster progress in its bid to join.

The move comes after the 27-nation bloc formally kicked off a first phase of membership talks with Ukraine last month after a long delay caused by opposition from Hungary.

Joining the EU involves candidate countries negotiating their way through six “clusters” of subjects to align with the bloc’s laws on everything from the environment and agriculture to justice.

On Tuesday, EU Europe ministers meeting in Brussels with their Ukrainian counterpart opened the talks on security, defense and foreign policy.

Despite the momentum forward, the move falls short of hopes in Ukraine and Brussels to launch negotiations on all six “clusters” by the start of Europe’s summer holiday break.

War-torn Ukraine — which applied to join in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion — still faces a long and arduous journey to gain full EU membership.

But Kyiv was not the only would-be EU member making progress. “Today is a super Tuesday for EU enlargement,” said EU commissioner Marta Kos. “Today’s momentum must now be turned into delivery on the ground.”

Moldova — which asked for membership at the same time as Ukraine — was also opening its second area of talks. Montenegro, frontrunner to be the bloc’s next month, was meanwhile wrapping up some more negotiation topics, along with Albania. (AFP)