Ukraine says it has resumed pumping Russian oil through a pipeline into Hungary and Slovakia, bringing to an end months of deadlock, over a €90 billion (£78bn) loan seen as vital European Union support for Kyiv.
Soon afterwards, EU ambassadors meeting in Cyprus gave preliminary approval to the loan, as well as a 20th package of sanctions on Russia, officials said.
EU leaders will sign it off at an informal summit on Thursday.
Although the funding was agreed last December, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán slapped a veto on the payment in February after Ukraine said damage caused by a Russian attack had brought supplies to a halt.
Ukrainian oil and government sources told officials in Hungary and Slovakia that pumping had restarted, hours after the EU ambassadors began discussing the loan.
Orbán had demanded the oil start flowing again before the loan could be paid out, and Ukraine confirmed the repairs had been completed on Tuesday.
His election defeat last Sunday also cleared the air for the EU, bringing to an end his 16-year era as prime minister.
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Hungary’s next leader, Péter Magyar, has prioritised a reset in Budapest’s poor relations with Brussels.
“Ukraine really needs this loan, and it’s also a sign that Russia cannot outlast Ukraine,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of the ambassadors’ meeting.
The EU funding has been described by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka as “a matter of life and death” for Kyiv, and two-thirds of it will be spent on bolstering Ukraine’s defence needs, while the rest will go on broader financial assistance.
Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Sakova said she had been told by energy operator Ukrtransnaft, which looks after the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine, that pressurising of the pipeline had begun on Wednesday morning and crude oil would start flowing into Slovakia on Thursday, for the first time since January 27, 2026.
The volume of pumping was not yet clear, but a Ukrainian government source was quoted as saying that the transit of oil had begun at 12:35 local time (09:35 GMT).
Hungarian energy firm Mol said it expected the first supplies by Thursday at the latest.
Orbán, who is acting as caretaker leader until early next month, made clear at the weekend that as soon as oil deliveries through the pipeline are restored, “we will no longer stand in the way of approving the loan.”
In the run-up to Hungary’s bitterly contested election this month, which Orbán lost, he had accused Ukraine of imposing an “oil blockade” on his country and neighbouring Slovakia, claiming that the EU was working with Kyiv against him.
