Cyprus, which holds presidency of European Council, plans to grant Kyiv €90 billion loan following Orbán’s defeat

Orbán’s defeat: EU plans to allocate €90 billion to Ukraine

Cyprus, which currently holds the presidency of the European Council, intends to finalise the allocation of a €90 billion loan to Ukraine as part of a reparations loan, as well as to introduce a 20th package of sanctions against Russia following the defeat of Hungary’s incumbent Prime Minister Orbán in the elections.

This was reported by Censor.NET, citing Interfax-Ukraine.

Details

"As previously noted, our goal as the presidency remains to finalise both the €90 billion loan package for Ukraine and the 20th package of sanctions as soon as possible. We intend to put this on the agenda of the Committee of Permanent Representatives as soon as conditions allow, with the aim of swiftly concluding the consideration of both matters," said a Cyprus spokesperson.

Elections in Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has publicly conceded his political party’s defeat. He noted that responsibility for forming a government now passes to the election winners.
In Hungary, 98.93% of votes have been counted, with Magyar receiving over 69% of the vote.

What led up to this?

Earlier, the Hungarian Prime Minister blocked a €90 billion loan for Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of deliberately blocking oil transit from Russia via the "Druzhba" pipeline, which was damaged as a result of Russian attacks.
The day before, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, alluding to Orbán, stated that if the €90 billion EU loan to aid Ukraine continued to be blocked, "this person’s address" would be provided to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Hungarian government regarded the Ukrainian president’s statement as an "open threat".
This caused a major scandal in Hungary, to which even the opposition reacted. The leader of the Hungarian opposition party "Tisza", Péter Magyar, called on Zelenskyy to apologise for his words, which he described as "threats" against Orbán.
Orbán stated that Hungary would break through the "blockade" of the Druzhba oil pipeline "by force ".
Subsequently, seven employees of Oschadbank were detained in Hungary on suspicion of money laundering. Among those detained, it is said, is a retired general of the Ukrainian security services.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised citizens to refrain from travelling to Hungary.
A team from the National Bank of Ukraine rushed to Budapest following the detention of the cash collectors.
The Ukrainian National Police have launched an investigation.
The Hungarian government stated that the seven Ukrainian cash collectors would be deported.
On the evening of 6 March, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced the release of the seven Ukrainian cash-in-transit employees who had been detained in Hungary.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that on the morning of 11 March, a group of Hungarian citizens entered Ukrainian territory without official status or scheduled official meetings.
President Zelenskyy stated that he was unaware of what the Hungarian delegation was doing in Ukraine.
Subsequently, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accused Zelenskyy of lying and published a Hungarian note suggesting that Budapest had requested a meeting between Czepek and Ukrainian Minister Denys Shmyhal.
At the same time, the Foreign Ministry’s note indicates that the Hungarian side had not coordinated its delegation’s visit to the "Druzhba" oil pipeline with Ukraine and had received proposals from Kyiv regarding alternative dates for the visit.