Ukraine has resumed pumping Russian oil from the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia, thus putting an end to the months-long dispute. It prompted EU ambassadors to promptly approve a crucial €90 billion (£78 billion) loan for Ukraine, in addition to the 20th sanctions package against Russia. The loan, which Ukraine considers a matter of life and death, had been opposed by the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán until now.

The political impasse was broken after Orbán lost the latest Hungarian elections to Péter Magyar, who intended to restore relations between Hungary and the EU. Although the oil will arrive at the refineries by Thursday, Russia responded by declaring that Kazakhstan oil would stop its transit to Germany from May 1 due to “technical problems.”