Ruptly
"Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas announced on Tuesday that a 'positive decision' on the €90 billion ($105.94 billion) loan to Ukraine was expected within the next 24 hours. "I don't want to jinx it," she said, adding, "I hope that everything goes well because we have seen some turns in this file." She said that the bloc was looking to expedite sanctions on Russia and take advantage of the 'new momentum' to revisit long-blocked decisions, including the European Peace Facility Weapons Fund. "If you ask me, the date of the 20th sanctions package, then I say it's long overdue [...]" she said, hinting that there have been suggestions for the next package of sanctions. Kallas added that the "EU remains Ukraine's biggest supporter, in addition to the military and financial support." Following the return of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2026, Kallas threatened to cut the EU's funding for the event. "We will come with proposals to restrict former Russian combatants' entry to the European Union by the time of the June European Council," she said, adding to the pile of restrictions against Russia. "We are working regarding the sanctions on Shadow Fleet on a rolling basis, so we are not putting together big packages." This comes as the EU failed to pass the 20th package of sanctions against Russia and the loan for Ukraine after Hungary blocked the legislation over the Druzhba pipeline row, which Budapest claimed was ‘political blackmail’ tactic by Kiev, while Ukraine maintained the stoppage was due to damage from Russian strikes. Ukraine announced on Tuesday that the pipeline has been restored and is ready for oil transport. It follows Hungary’s general election, where Peter Magyar and his Tisza Party won a resounding victory."
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