EU Close to Okaying $106B Ukraine Loan 04/23 06:19

   

   BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union on Wednesday was on the cusp of 
approving a massive loan for Ukraine as oil began flowing again through a key 
pipeline toward Hungary and Slovakia, lifting a major obstacle to approving the 
funds.

   The operator of the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine, Ukrtransnaft, told the two 
countries that Russian oil was on its way and should arrive early on Thursday. 
Unlike most of the rest of the EU, Hungary and Slovakia still depend on Russia 
for their energy needs.

   EU envoys, meanwhile, launched a political procedure to endorse the loan. 
National governments have 24 hours to raise objections in writing, and if none 
of the 27 member nations do, the loan could be approved by Thursday afternoon, 
just as EU leaders are gathering for a summit in Cyprus.

   A new raft of sanctions against Russia could also be approved on Thursday.

   Money runs short in Ukraine

   Ukraine desperately needs the 90 billion euro ($106 billion) loan package, 
originally agreed in December, to prop up its war-ravaged economy and help keep 
Russian forces at bay for the next two years.

   Hungary has insisted that it must start receiving the oil again before it 
will unblock the funds, while Slovakia refused to endorse new sanctions.

   For months, the two countries have accused Ukraine of failing to repair the 
pipeline. Ukraine and most of its European backers oppose imports of Russian 
oil which have helped to fund President Vladimir Putin's war, now in its fifth 
year.

   In a post on social media on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 
that "Ukraine is fulfilling its obligations" and that "we expect that the 
European side will also deliver."

   He welcomed movement on the loan, saying that "the unblocking is the right 
signal under the current circumstances. Russia must end its war. And the 
incentives for that can arise only when both support for Ukraine and pressure 
on Russia are sufficient."

   Cautious optimism after months of delay

   The 27-nation EU had originally intended to use frozen Russian assets as 
collateral for the loan. But that option was blocked by Belgium, where the bulk 
of the frozen assets are held.

   In December, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed not to stop 
their EU partners from borrowing the money on international markets as long as 
the three countries did not have to take part in the scheme.

   But Hungary's outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, who has repeatedly 
blocked EU aid to Ukraine, angered the other 24 countries by later reneging on 
that deal over the pipeline dispute and as campaigning heated up ahead of an 
April 12 election that he lost in a landslide.

   New sanctions on Russia

   The EU has also been trying since February to push through a new raft of 
sanctions against Russia, which Hungary and Slovakia have blocked. The EU 
envoys also set in train a procedure to have them approved on Thursday.

   Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico repeated on Wednesday that his government 
would not approve the new EU measures "unless the Druzhba oil pipeline is 
really reopened." Fico said that "trust between Slovakia and Ukraine has been 
badly damaged" by the dispute.

   But Economy Minister Denisa Sakov confirmed that Slovakia expects oil 
supplies to resume early on Thursday. Sakov said Ukrtransnaft had informed the 
government that oil began entering the Druzhba pipeline again on Wednesday.