Zelenskyy Expects €90 Billion Loan Unblocking, 20th Sanctions Package, and Accession Progress from EU Summit
President Zelenskyy expects the EU summit to unblock a €90 billion loan, adopt the 20th sanctions package against Russia, and advance Ukraine's EU accession. The approval process for the loan and sanctions has already begun and will continue until April 23.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined key expectations from the upcoming European Union summit, including the unblocking of a loan for Ukraine, the adoption of a new sanctions package against Russia, and progress in the negotiation process for EU accession. He announced this during an online interaction with media, as reported by «European Pravda».
The President identified the unblocking of a €90 billion loan for Ukraine as the number one issue. He also emphasized the importance of adopting the 20th sanctions package against Russia, stating that «the issue is not the number of packages, but their quality,» though he added that its adoption had been «somewhat delayed.» Among other initiatives, Zelenskyy mentioned a European-format «drone agreement,» discussions for which have already begun with several countries, and the issue of negotiation clusters on the path to EU accession. He expressed confidence that this issue «will be resolved in the near future, in weeks, months,» provided unanimous support from all European countries.
It should be noted that the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU began a written procedure on Wednesday afternoon to approve a €90 billion loan for Ukraine and the 20th EU sanctions package against Russia. This procedure will last until 13:00 Kyiv time on April 23. This step became possible after Ukraine resumed the transit of Russian oil via the «Druzhba» pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia. President Zelenskyy welcomed the unblocking of these procedures, expressing his expectation for the prompt implementation of the agreements reached.