The breakthrough hinges on the restoration of crude shipments through the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline linking Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia — a condition that outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government used to block the loan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Tuesday that the line has been repaired, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
***
European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said the latest developments had cleared the path for the money to be set free. “The oil is flowing in the Druzhba pipeline — this means that … we will be able to release the €90 billion loan,” she said Wednesday at the EU-Ukraine Business Forum.
After initially agreeing to the loan in December, Budapest blocked it in February as a dispute flared over the pipeline. Orbán accused Zelenskyy of slow-walking repairs to the infrastructure in retaliation for Hungary’s friendly relations with Russia.Zelenskyy sounded optimistic the cash would finally reach Ukraine. “The unblocking is the right signal under the current circumstances,” he wrote on X on Wednesday.
EU ambassadors gave preliminary backing to the package, according to Cyprus, which holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, after Ukraine’s repairs and the westward flows resumed.
POLITICO spoke to five EU diplomats and officials, present in a meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday or briefed by those who were, and who were granted anonymity to speak freely about the deal.
In the meeting, Hungary and Slovakia made clear their support depends on oil physically reaching their territory, according to three of the diplomats. “Some caution is needed as there might still be technical issues,” one diplomat said.
“It should be fine,” another added, noting the EU pushed the deadline to Thursday afternoon based on “very scientific calculations” of when the oil is expected to arrive.
“Our position hasn’t changed,” a Hungarian official told POLITICO.
Hungarian oil company MOL said crude began moving through Ukraine at noon on Tuesday and is expected to reach Hungary and Slovakia by Thursday at the latest. Slovakia’s Economy Minister Denisa Sáková confirmed a similar timeline in a Facebook post, saying supplies should resume Wednesday morning.
If the loan is approved this week, Kyiv would be set to receive the money in May, offering relief to Ukraine’s war-battered economy as it continues to fend off Russia’s full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year. Once Hungary lifts its veto, the European Commission would be able to disburse the funds after completing technical checks expected to take a few weeks.
