KYIV — European Union officials on Wednesday took a key step toward approving a loan of roughly $105 billion for Ukraine, after Hungary dropped its long-standing opposition.
The two-year loan is moving forward after its main opponent, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, lost his campaign for reelection this month.
The money will provide a crucial lifeline to Kyiv, helping to finance its government and fight Russia’s ongoing invasion.
The package is expected to get formal approval Thursday, according to officials from Cyprus, which holds the E.U.’s rotating presidency.
The loan had been approved in December. But Hungary, led by Orban, vetoed the loan in February over a disruption in oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies Russian crude oil to Hungary and Slovakia through Ukraine.
The pipeline was damaged during a Russian airstrike in January and needed to be repaired, Ukrainian officials said. Orban accused Ukraine of intentionally delaying the resumption of oil deliveries — a charge that Kyiv denied.
Regardless of the uncertainty over the speed of the repairs, there had been persistent tension between Ukraine and Hungary — and personally between Orban and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky said in a social media post Wednesday that the unblocking of the loan was “the right signal under the current circumstances,” showing support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia.
“Ukraine is fulfilling its obligations in relations with the European Union — even on such sensitive issues as the operation of the Druzhba oil pipeline,” he added. “We expect that the European side will also deliver what is needed for the real protection of lives and for advancing Ukraine’s full European integration.”
Ukrainian and European officials had criticized the outgoing Hungarian leader for his Russia-friendly policies and close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
For his part, Orban made his opposition to aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russia a focus of elections earlier this month, plastering posters with Zelensky’s image across the country.
But last week, Orban and his Fidesz party suffered a major defeat to Peter Magyar, a center-right, socially conservative member of the European Parliament, and his Tisza party — in what was arguably the country’s most consequential vote since the end of the communist era.
The outcome paves the way for a reset in relations between Kyiv and Budapest. On Sunday, Orban said that he was not opposed to lifting Hungary’s veto.
“Once oil deliveries are restored, we will no longer stand in the way of approving the loan,” he wrote on X. “The disbursement of the loan does not impose a financial burden or obligation on Hungary.”
Then, on Wednesday morning, Ukrainian pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta informed Hungary’s state oil company MOL that the first oil deliveries for Druzhba had arrived from Belarus and should reach Hungary and Slovakia by Thursday, MOL said in a statement.
Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia, and Kostiantyn Khudov in Kyiv contributed to this report.
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