EU will seek to unblock 90 billion euro Ukraine loan this week

EU countries will seek to give the final greenlight to release a blocked 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) loan for Ukraine Wednesday, an official said, raising hopes Hungary would lift its veto.

Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had held up the money as leverage in a feud with Ukraine over a damaged pipeline carrying Russian oil.

But last week Kyiv said the pipeline would reopen by the end of April, prompting Orban to repeat that Budapest was ready to lift its veto once oil deliveries were restored.

"The last element needed to allow for the disbursement of the 90-billion-euro loan for Ukraine" will be on the agenda when diplomats from the EU's 27 member states meet Wednesday, a spokesperson for Cyprus, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, said Monday.

EU member states need to unanimously approve an amendment to the bloc's budget to get the loan going.

The Wednesday meeting would ascertain consensus before a written procedure is launched for final adoption.

The item was added to the meeting's agenda "in light of recent developments", the spokesperson said, fuelling speculation that Budapest was ready to play ball.

Things are expected to move swiftly if an agreement is reached Wednesday.

EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told AFP last week Brussels expected to start releasing the loan in the second quarter of the year.

The development comes just over a week after Russia-friendly Orban lost a national election to conservative rival Peter Magyar, who has vowed to mend ties with Brussels.

Orban's blockage of the loan, which Ukraine badly needs to plug looming budget shortfalls, had enraged fellow EU leaders.

On Sunday the 62-year-old nationalist said he had "received an indication from Ukraine" via Brussels that Kyiv was ready to restore oil deliveries as soon as Monday.

"Once oil deliveries are restored, we will no longer stand in the way of approving the loan," Orban wrote on social media platform X.

The European Commission, which has acted as a mediator between Budapest and Kyiv, declined to comment Monday on whether supplies had been restored.