EU approves large loan to Ukraine and 20th sanctions package against Russia after Hungary drops opposition

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The European Union formally approved a 90-billion-euro loan to Ukraine and adopted its 20th package of anti-Russia sanctions at a summit in Cyprus, with the signing ceremony concluded on the afternoon of April 23.

Both measures had been blocked for months by Hungary and Slovakia, which were locked in a dispute with Ukraine over the Druzhba pipeline.

The EU had agreed on the 90-billion-euro loan in December, after abandoning plans to expropriate frozen Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine. Members agreed that funds from Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic — none of which had supported the loan — would not be used, with the remaining 24 EU countries covering the full 90 billion.

In February, Hungary announced it would veto the loan after Ukraine halted the transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline. Kyiv said the pipeline had been damaged by Russian drones; Budapest maintained that Ukraine was sabotaging repairs — and Ukrainian authorities had for a long time refused to allow European inspectors onto the site. The dispute escalated into a direct confrontation between the two countries’ leaders: Volodymyr Zelensky effectively threatened Viktor Orban openly, while Orban built his election campaign around anti-Ukraine rhetoric.

Orban lost the election on April 12. His rival and election winner, Peter Magyar, said he had no plans to keep blocking the loan because it didn’t involve Hungarian funds. On April 21, Zelensky said repairs to the pipeline were complete. Oil flow resumed the following day, and the first oil reached Slovakia on April 23.

The 20th sanctions package had originally been planned for February, to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the start of the full-scale war, but Hungary and Slovakia refused to support it as well amid the halt in Druzhba deliveries. Both countries waited until oil physically reached their territory before signing the documents on the loan and the sanctions package, the Ukrainian news outlet Yevropeyska Pravda reported, citing sources, after the announcement that Druzhba was reopening.

The new package targets Russian oil and gas exports above all else. It bans the provision of services to vessels carrying Russian liquefied natural gas and prohibits the sale of European tankers to Russian companies. The EU had also planned to ban services to all vessels carrying crude oil, but that measure was ultimately dropped.

The loan is critically important to Ukraine’s economy: to cover its budget deficit in 2026 alone, Kyiv needs between $45 billion and $52 billion in external financing — without it, the government would be unable to sustain the war effort or meet its social obligations. Zelensky said Kyiv hopes to receive the first tranche at the end of May or the beginning of June.

War in photographs: The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic