After much deliberation, the EU countries have finally approved a loan of 90 billion euros – almost 1,000 billion Swedish kronor – to Ukraine.
“Loan disbursements will start flowing as soon as possible and provide essential support for Ukraine’s most urgent needs,” Cyprus Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said in a statement.
An important day for our defense, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. He is in Cyprus for today’s informal EU summit.
“This package will strengthen our army, make Ukraine more resilient, and enable us to fulfill our social obligations to Ukrainians, in accordance with the law,” he writes on X.
On the plane to Cyprus, Zelenskyy said he hopes the money will arrive in late May or early June, AFP reports.
At the same time, the Hungarian energy giant MOL announced that it had received oil through the war-damaged Druzhba pipeline after a break of almost three months.
Hours earlier, Slovakia’s Minister of Economy Denisa Saková said, according to Reuters, that the country was once again receiving Russian oil through the pipeline.
Oil flow was resumed on Wednesday after Ukraine repaired the damaged section of the pipeline, prompting Hungary to drop its veto on the EU loan.
The Druzhba pipeline was damaged in a Russian attack in January and Russian oil could not be delivered via Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia. The supply disruption led to Hungary halting the loan to Ukraine, which the EU countries had already agreed on at the time.
