Following a months-long stoppage, Russian oil began to flow through the Ukrainian portion of the Druzhba pipeline on Wednesday, according to officials, enabling Hungary to lift its veto on a 90 billion euro ($105.79 billion) deal. Kyiv badly needs an EU loan.
Since a Russian drone strike damaged the Druzhba pipeline in western Ukraine and halted Russian oil flows to Hungary and Slovakia, it has become one of Europe's most politically sensitive infrastructure projects.
On Wednesday, the Hungarian oil company MOL announced that Ukraine had notified them that Russian crude shipments had restarted across the pipeline.According to a statement, "MOL anticipates that the first shipments of crude oil will reach Hungary and Slovakia by tomorrow at the latest, following the restart of the Ukrainian section of the pipeline system."
According to an industry source who wished to remain anonymous because they were not permitted to speak in public, pumping started at 5:35 a.m. ET.
The loan was agreed shortly after by a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels. It is now anticipated that the 27 member states of the European Union will formally approve it by Thursday afternoon.The loan was approved by the EU last year to sustain Ukraine's liquidity through 2026 and 2027, but it was blocked by Slovakia and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who accused Ukraine of postponing pipeline repairs, a claim Kyiv refuted.
Slovakia and Hungary both rely significantly on Russian oil, and Orban has continuously backed Russia.
After Orban lost Hungary's parliamentary election on April 12, Ukraine's chances of getting the loan had already risen.Although he is only anticipated to start office next month, Peter Magyar, the leader of the winning party, has stated that he will no longer obstruct EU financing for Kyiv.

Druzhba, which means friendship in Russian, has a daily capacity of 1.2 million to 1.4 million barrels of oil, with the potential to reach 2 million barrels.
However, because to frequent disruptions from drone attacks and Western sanctions, flows dropped to a small fraction of that.
Separately, after industry sources reported on Tuesday that Russia will halt Kazakhstan's oil shipments via the Druzhba pipeline, Germany confirmed that no Kazakh crude would reach its PCK Schwedt refinery, one of the biggest in the nation, starting in May.