French President Emmanuel Macron has said that EU leaders reached a unanimous agreement in December 2025 to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion loan for 2026-2027 and this commitment must now be fulfilled.

During the European Council meeting in Brussels on 19 March, EU leaders condemned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for blocking the provision of a €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine for 2026-2027.

The European Union will still provide Ukraine with a €90 billion loan package for 2026-2028, despite opposition from Hungary.

Following discussions regarding Ukraine, the European Council adopted conclusions on Thursday 19 March, signed by 25 EU leaders, with the exception of Hungary and Slovakia.

The European Council has discussed providing Ukraine with a €90 billion EU loan.

European leaders must not give in to blackmail by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and his blocking of a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine is unacceptable.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has "betrayed" the European Union by backing away from a prior agreement on granting Ukraine a €90 billion EU loan and is using the situation around Ukraine in his election campaign.

Hungary will not unblock any decision favourable to Ukraine until the flow of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline is restored.

Belgium supports increasing pressure on Russia and backing Ukraine, but would like the European Union to be at the negotiating table with Moscow on a future peace settlement.

Former combatants who have taken part in Russia's war against Ukraine pose a threat to the European Union's internal security, and the EU must address this issue.

A sentence linking the repair of the Druzhba oil pipeline to a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine and the EU's 20th sanctions package against Russia has been removed from a joint statement.

Paula Pinho, Chief Spokesperson for the European Commission, has said the issue of granting Ukraine a €90 billion EU loan could be resolved even before the European Council meets on 19-20 March.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that restoring transit via the Druzhba oil pipeline, damaged by Russian strikes, will take about a month and a half.

As of 17 March, all six clusters within Ukraine's negotiations on accession to the European Union are unofficially open.

As part of continued talks on Ukraine's EU accession at the technical level (the frontloading mechanism), Ukraine received draft conditions from the European Commission on the morning of Tuesday 17 March in Brussels.