The European Union has finally cleared a 90-billion-euro loan package for Ukraine after Hungary lifted its veto, unlocking one of the bloc's most significant recent commitments to Kyiv. The move ends a months-long stalemate that blended war financing, Russian oil transit, and intra-European political brinkmanship into a single high-stakes dispute.
What the EU approved
The package, worth roughly $106 billion, is designed to help Ukraine cover urgent budget and military-related needs over the next two years. EU officials said disbursements would begin as soon as possible, giving Kyiv support at a moment when its economy remains battered by war and its battlefield position still depends heavily on outside financing.
The breakthrough also cleared the way for a new round of sanctions on Russia that had been prepared months earlier but repeatedly delayed. Those measures had effectively been held hostage by the same dispute that had blocked the loan package.
Why Hungary and Slovakia blocked it
The resistance from Hungary and Slovakia was tied to a feud over Russian oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline crossing Ukraine. After flows were interrupted earlier this year, both governments blamed Kyiv for failing to resolve the issue quickly enough, while Ukrainian officials said Russian drone attacks had caused the damage in the first place.
Because Hungary and Slovakia remain more dependent on Russian energy than most other EU states, the pipeline dispute quickly became political leverage. Budapest blocked the Ukraine financing, while Bratislava held up the sanctions package, turning a regional energy conflict into a broader EU foreign-policy crisis.
What looked like a technical dispute over oil transit became a test of whether the EU could still act strategically while two of its members used energy dependence as negotiating power.
What changed
The immediate breakthrough came after oil flows to Slovakia resumed, removing the most visible obstacle to a deal. Slovak officials welcomed the restart, and the easing of that pressure gave both Hungary and Slovakia room to step back without appearing to fully abandon their earlier complaints.
For the rest of the EU, the outcome is both a relief and a reminder. Kyiv secured the money it urgently needs, but only after another bruising episode showed how vulnerable collective European decisions remain to individual member-state vetoes, especially when Ukraine policy intersects with domestic politics and energy dependency.