EU close to approving release of $106B loan to Ukraine after months of deadlock

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union envoys gathered on Wednesday with most cautiously optimistic that a massive loan to help meet Ukraine’s military and financial needs for the next two years is close to being approved after months of deadlock.

Meeting in Brussels, the envoys assessed whether Hungary might lift its veto on the 90 billion euro ($106 billion) loan package, originally agreed in December, which Ukraine desperately needs to prop up its war-ravaged economy and help keep Russian forces at bay.

Hungary has insisted that it must start receiving supplies of Russian oil again via Ukraine before it will unblock the funds.

Hungary and Slovakia, which both rely on Russian oil to meet their energy needs, have accused Ukraine of failing to repair a damaged pipeline that ships the oil. Ukraine and most of its European backers oppose imports of Russian oil which have helped to fund President Vladimir Putin’s war, now in its fifth year.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukraine has now completed repairs on the Druzhba pipeline. In a post on social media, he said it “was damaged by a Russian strike” but “the pipeline can resume operation.”

Hungary's outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has signaled that he would only approve the Ukraine loans once the oil starts flowing again, so the envoys are awaiting a clear signal from Budapest that his veto will be lifted. Orbán, who has repeatedly blocked EU aid to Ukraine, lost an election on April 12 and will be replaced by the pro-European opposition leader Péter Magyar.

Cyprus, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, launched a written procedure to approve the final piece of the puzzle in the loan package. That would require Hungary or any other objecting nation to state in writing why they oppose it.

Such procedures are often left open for 24 hours, and the Cypriot presidency said that final approval could come on Thursday, when EU leaders are gathering for a summit in Cyprus.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas was reluctant to speculate on the outcome on Tuesday. “We expect an agreement in 24 hours, so I don’t want to jinx it,” she said.

The 27-nation EU had originally intended to use frozen Russian assets 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 the election that he lost in a landslide.

In an address on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said “there can be no grounds for blocking” the loans anymore. “The EU asked Ukraine to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline, which had been destroyed by Russia. We have repaired it.”

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told reporters that Ukraine has done its part. “We have completed everything — there is a date (set), and the infrastructure has been repaired.”

The EU has also been trying since February to push through a new raft of sanctions against Russia, which Hungary and Slovakia have blocked. The measures could take longer than the loan to approve.

Slovakia's Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár said Tuesday that his country would only agree once “Russian oil arrives in Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline. I can state that we do not have such information yet.”

Economy Minister Denisa Saková said Slovakia expects oil supplies to resume early on Thursday. Saková said that according to information from Ukrtransnaft, a company that operates the pipeline on Ukrainian territory, oil began entering the Druzhba pipeline again on Wednesday.

Associated Press journalists Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

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)

Slovenia's Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, third right, speaks with Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, right, and Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, second right, during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Luxembourg, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

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 waves from behind a glass window after he received the Freedom Medal of the International Four Freedoms Award during a ceremony in Middelburg, Netherlands, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — There’s a surprising amount of science in a bag of potato chips.

Researchers have spent decades developing potatoes for chip makers that can grow in all kinds of climates, avoid diseases and pests, sit in storage for months and still deliver a satisfying crunch. They've also kept an eye on consumer trends; a shift to snack-size portions has increased the demand for smaller chipping potatoes, for example.

“The potato industry is dynamic," said David Douches, a Michigan State University professor who leads the school’s Potato Breeding and Genetics Program. “The needs change, the costs, the pressures that they have, and the markets change. So we have to adapt to that with our varieties.”

Douches has developed five new potato varieties for chips in the the last 15 years. His latest breakthrough is a bioengineered potato that can maintain a proper sugar balance when stored at colder temperatures, which can help keep potatoes from rotting. He is currently growing seeds for commercial testing of the potato, which is not yet on the market.

Douches' work helps fight world hunger; he has developed disease-resistant varieties for farmers in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and Bangladesh. But he's also helping U.S. chip makers, grateful snackers and Michigan's $2.5 billion potato industry. While Idaho leads the U.S. in potato production, Michigan is the top producer of potatoes for chips.

There are around 50 unique potato varieties grown for chips in the U.S. right now, according to the National Chip Program, a cooperative that brings together Michigan State and 11 other university breeding programs with growers, companies that make chips, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Efforts to improve those varieties are constant. The National Chip Program evaluates around 225 new potato varieties each year and selects 100 for further trials, said Tim Rendall, the director of production research at Potatoes USA, a trade group that oversees the chip program.

The close partnership between researchers, farmers and potato chip companies is unusual in the food industry, said Phil Gusmano, the vice president of purchasing at Better Made Snack Foods, which has produced potato chips in Detroit since 1930. Better Made worked closely with Douches when he was developing two of the varieties the company uses now, Gusmano said.

“We were able talk about size profile and different needs that make a really good chip,” Gusmano said. “And the great thing is, they’re willing to listen to what we have to say, because if they put together a potato that doesn’t really meet the needs for the end processor, it doesn’t do them any good.”

Breeding a new type of potato can take up to 15 years, Douches said. The simple potato has a surprisingly complicated genetic structure, with four chromosomes in each cell compared to two in most species, including humans. That makes it harder to predict which traits that cross-bred plants will inherit, he said.

“We’re never able to fix a trait and carry that over to the next generation, so it’s very difficult to find a potato that has all the traits that we want,” Douches said.

Douches became fascinated with potato breeding and genetics while in graduate school. At Michigan State, he focuses on chipping potatoes, since Michigan is a leading producer. Around 70% of the state’s potato crop is destined for chip processing, according to the Michigan Ag Council. The trade group estimates that one of every four bags of potato chips produced in the U.S. contains Michigan potatoes.

Breeding potatoes that can sit in storage for nearly a year has been one of the biggest challenges in Douches' 40-year career. Historically, farmers harvested potatoes and then stored them in huge piles at around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Temperatures any colder cause sugar levels to rise in the root vegetables, and higher sugar content leads to darker potato chips. But warmer storage conditions can lead to rot.

“You think they’re just these inanimate objects, but they actually are respiring and breathing,” Douches said. “When you do that to them, you’ve got, like, a two- to three-day window where they’re happy.”

His Manistee variety, which was released in 2013, can be safely stored until July at 45 F (7.2 C) degrees. His new bioengineered potato can be stored at 40 F (4.4 C).

Gusmano said Better Made used to source potatoes from outside of Michigan for half the year because the Michigan potatoes it harvested in the fall only could be stored until February. The company now uses newer varieties, like Douches' Mackinaw potato, which can be stored until July and is resistant to several common diseases.

“We’re not shipping potatoes from all over the country to be fried here in Michigan,” Gusmano said. “Instead, they’re being shipped from an hour and a half away all year long.”

David Douches, a Michigan State University professor who leads the school's Potato Breeding and Genetics Program, inspects some items at a campus greenhouse in East Lansing, Mich., on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

Potato chips move along a conveyor at a Better Made Snack Foods processing facility in Detroit, on Thursday, April 2, 2026 (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

Better Made Snack Foods worker Tonya Tinsleydoes quality control checks on potatoes at a processing facility in Detroit, on Thursday, April 2, 2026 (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

David Douches, a Michigan State University professor who leads the school's Potato Breeding and Genetics Program, holds a potato chip in his hand during a taste testing in East Lansing, Mich., on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 (AP Photo/Mike Householder)