One day after Euromaidan Press reported that the Druzhba pipeline restart could unlock €90 billion in EU financing for Ukraine, the timeline is firming up. Ukraine will resume oil flows on Tuesday, 21 April, ending the three-month blockade that had frozen €90 billion ($106 billion) in EU financing for Kyiv, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The restart clears the last obstacle before Wednesday’s EU ambassador vote to release the money—two-thirds of what Ukraine needs to keep its state and army running through 2027. Without the loan, Kyiv would have run out of money by June.
€90 billion for Ukraine—two-thirds of the 2026–27 budget gap—clears Brussels Wednesday
Technical tests on the pipeline are scheduled for Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter cited in the same Bloomberg report. The Brody pumping station in Lviv Oblast was struck by Russian drones on 27 January, halting deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia—the only two EU states still receiving Russian oil directly by pipeline.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conditioned his EU veto on the pipeline’s restart, posted on X on Sunday: “no oil = no money.”
Vote lined up for Wednesday
Hungary’s outgoing government signaled on Sunday that it is ready to lift the block and support the loan this week if shipments restart, Bloomberg said. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who had threatened a separate block, indicated last week he would not disrupt EU unity. That leaves Budapest as the sole holdout—and Tuesday’s test as the price of admission.
The Cypriot presidency has placed the item as a routine vote with no debate expected.
EU ambassadors meet on Wednesday, 22 April, to approve the amendment to the bloc’s long-term budget that authorizes disbursement. The Cypriot presidency has placed the item as a routine vote with no debate expected, assuming advance consensus.
Incoming Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, whose Tisza party won the 12 April election, told Euronews on Monday that Ukraine should reopen Druzhba “if it is in a condition to carry oil.”
Reacting to reports that Kyiv could demand faster EU accession progress in exchange, Magyar said Hungary would not “give in to blackmail.”
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Why €90 billion matters
Ukraine spends every dollar of domestic tax revenue on defense. Nearly half of the rest of the state budget runs on foreign financing. The EU package is the largest tranche available and unlocks a parallel $8.2 billion IMF program that has been waiting for the European disbursement.
Ukraine repays only if Russia pays war reparations.
The loan is funded by EU borrowing on capital markets and serviced from interest earned on the €210 billion ($248 billion) in frozen Russian sovereign assets held at Brussels-based Euroclear. Ukraine repays only if Russia pays war reparations. The IMF estimates Kyiv’s total funding gap at €136 billion ($160 billion) across 2026–2027; the EU package covers roughly two-thirds.
The European Commission plans to phase out Hungary and Slovakia’s remaining Russian oil purchases by the end of 2027 at the latest.
