KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has completed repairs on a damaged oil pipeline and is preparing to resume flows, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday, while warning that there is no guarantee Russia will not target the infrastructure again.
Repairs to the Druzhba pipeline became a contentious issue, delaying approval of a major 90 billion euro ($106 billion) EU loan intended to support Ukraine’s military and economic needs over the next two years. Zelenskyy said repairing the pipeline was linked to freeing the funds, which had been blocked by Hungary and Slovakia.
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European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, second right, speaks with from left, Slovenia's Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel and Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos during a round table meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Luxembourg, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Luxembourg, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks next to a drone after he received the International Four Freedoms Award, in Middelburg, Netherlands, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
FILE - A general view of a pumping station at the end of the Druzhba oil pipeline in the east German refinery PCK in Schwedt, Jan. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Sven Kaestner, File)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for the International Four Freedoms Award ceremony in Middelburg, Netherlands, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
But top EU officials are now cautiously optimistic that the massive loan scheme might be approved as soon as Wednesday, ending months of political deadlock.
“Ukraine has completed repair work on the section of the Druzhba oil pipeline that was damaged by a Russian strike. The pipeline can resume operation,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “Although no one can currently guarantee that Russia will not repeat attacks on the pipeline infrastructure, our specialists have ensured the basic conditions for restoring the operation of the pipeline system and equipment.”
“We connect this with the unblocking of the European support package for Ukraine, which had already been approved by the European Council,” he added.
Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia have been halted for two months after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian drone attacks that damaged the pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory, and that continuous strikes risk the lives of technicians trying to repair it.
The war in Ukraine that began in February 2022 with Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands, forced millions to flee their homes and turned cities into rubble.
Before being unseated by centrist challenger Péter Magyar, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had threatened to cut gas supplies to Ukraine. Both Hungary and Slovakia accused Kyiv of deliberately obstructing Russian deliveries.
Zelenskyy said earlier this month he is reluctant to allow Russian oil to continue transiting through his country.
Speaking to reporters in Luxembourg after chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers, the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the loan saga had taken many twists and turns. “We expect an agreement in 24 hours, so I don’t want to jinx it,” she said.
EU envoys are due to meet Wednesday in hopes of ending the standoff.
European Council President Antonio Costa, who will chair a summit of EU leaders starting Thursday, took to social media to thank Zelenskyy “for delivering, as agreed: repairing the Druzhba pipeline and restoring its operation.”
The 27-nation EU had originally intended to use Russian assets frozen in Europe as collateral for the loan. But that option was blocked by Belgium, where the bulk of the frozen assets are held.
In December, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed not to stop their EU partners from borrowing the money on international markets as long as the three countries did not have to take part in the scheme.
But Orbán angered the other 24 countries by later reneging on that deal over the pipeline dispute and as campaigning heated up ahead of elections earlier this month, which the veteran Hungarian leader lost in a landslide.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, second right, speaks with from left, Slovenia's Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel and Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos during a round table meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Luxembourg, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Luxembourg, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks next to a drone after he received the International Four Freedoms Award, in Middelburg, Netherlands, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
FILE - A general view of a pumping station at the end of the Druzhba oil pipeline in the east German refinery PCK in Schwedt, Jan. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Sven Kaestner, File)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for the International Four Freedoms Award ceremony in Middelburg, Netherlands, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the cradle of the modern Civil Rights Movement to mobilize a new voting rights era as conservative states dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Montgomery “sacred soil” in the fight for civil rights.
“if we in our generation do not now do our duty, we will lose the gains and the rights and the liberties that our ancestors afforded us,” Booker said.
The crowd was led in chants of “we won’t go back” and “we fight.”
“We are not going down without a fight. We are not going down to Jim Crow maps,” Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case said.
A crowd of thousands gathered in front of the city’s historic Alabama Capitol, the place where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1965 at the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March. The stage, set in front of the Capitol, was flanked from behind by statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and civil rights icon Rosa Parks — dueling tributes erected nearly 90 years apart.
Speakers said the spot was once the temple of the confederacy and became holy ground of the civil rights movement.
Some in the crowd said the effort to redraw lines has echoes of the past.
“We lived through the “60s. It takes you back. When you think that Alabama’s moving forward, it takes two steps back,” said Camellia A Hooks, 70, of Montgomery, Alabama.
The rally began in Selma, where a violent clash between law enforcement and voting rights activists in 1965 galvanized support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. It then moved to the state Capitol, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “How Long, Not Long” speech that same year.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out voting rights law that was already weakened by a separate decision in 2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions, and limits on early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once needed federal preclearance before they could change voting laws because of their historical discrimination against Black voters.
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are alarmed by the speed of the rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice have been weakened in little more than a decade.
Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” A white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the streets.
“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after 60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we fought for back then.”
Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama's 2nd Congressional District after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The court said there should be a district where Black people are a majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.
But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new map.
Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in 2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people's opportunity to have representation.
“When Republicans are literally turning back the clock on what representation, what the faces of representation, look like, what the opportunities, legitimate opportunities for representation look like across this country, then I think it starts to resonate with people in a little bit of a different way,” Figures said.
Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said the Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was forced on the state by the federal court.
“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court, the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat two,” Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one.”
Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said there is grief over the implosion of the Voting Rights Act but it is crucial that people recommit to the fight.
“We have to accept that this is the new reality, whether we like it or not,” Milligan said. “We don’t have to accept that this will be the reality for the next 10 years or two years or forever.”
The State capitol is seen during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People gather during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Aaron McGuire sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
