EU seeks to pressure Hungary into dropping veto on Ukraine loan, progresses legal instruments
Meanwhile, the European Union has sought to ramp up pressure on Hungary to drop its veto on the €90bn loan for Ukraine, with the European Commission saying it will push ahead with its preparatory work for the loan to be paid out.
The commission said it would draft a legal text setting out the details of the first payment of €45bn in 2026 and what the funds would be used for, and send it to the European Council to be formally approved by the bloc’s 27 leaders.
The logic is that should be merely a formality given the leaders’ original decision to back the loan in December last year, and a formal pivot by Hungary’s would “constitute a breach of the principle of loyal cooperation” in the bloc by Viktor Orbán.
The plan “builds on a large quantity of information submitted by Ukraine that we collectively worked out with the Ukrainian authorities,” commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari explained.
He said there is a number of other documents that need to be adopted before the money can be paid out, but the commission is “doing whatever we can to ensure that all bits and pieces fall in place as soon as possible.”
As my colleague Jennifer Rankin points out, a few months ago we heard repeatedly that Ukraine was going to run out of money by the beginning of the second quarter, which, erm, happens to be today.
The commission said that this is pretty much why they are progressing the paperwork on the loan – but that still needs a change of heart (or, erm, government) from Hungary.
Ukraine's Zelenskyy condemns Russia's overnight drone attacks amid calls for Easter ceasefire
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy reported an overnight Russian drone attack on Lutsk in northwestern Ukraine, saying it “hit purely civilians facilities,” including food warehouses and a residential building.
“In total, Russia used 339 drones against Ukraine during the night, around 200 of them ‘shaheds’,” he said.
He made his frustration with Russia very clear:
“We proposed a ceasefire for Easter – in response, we’re getting ‘shaheds.’ We also proposed a ceasefire specifically regarding energy infrastructure – the Russians ignore this and once again attempt to strike our substations and transformers.
Ukraine is working with partners to expand joint capabilities to protect lives, while Russia continues to prolong the war in Europe, and by sharing its intelligence with the Iranian regime it is openly investing in fueling war in the Middle East and the Gulf.
Russia is the global threat, and its disregard for life and peace is what obstructs any diplomacy.”
Zelenskyy said that he was expecting a “pretty busy diplomatic day,” with “many contacts already … scheduled.”
But Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna replied to his post on social media, summing up the situation as:
Ukraine proposed a ceasefire for Easter. Russia responded with a swarm of drones targeting civilians.
Kremlin says Ukraine should have agreed to withdraw troops from Donbas 'yesterday'
Meanwhile, back on Russia and Ukraine, the Kremlin showed no appetite for making concessions in any potential peace talks as it said that the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have taken the difficult decision to withdraw his forces from the Donbas area “yesterday” in order to end what it called the “hot phase” of the war.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov made the comments in response to a question about remarks made a day earlier by Zelenskiy who reportedly said that Moscow had given Ukraine a two-month deadline to withdraw its troops from Donbas or face tougher terms in any potential peace agreement, Reuters reported.
Starmer wants EU to get closer to EU on economy, defence, energy
During his press conference, Starmer also spoke about his intention to get closer to the European Union.
Replying to a question from the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot, he said:
“I do think that we should strengthen our cooperation on defence, security, energy, emissions and the economy. …
I’m ambitious that we can do more in relation to the single market, because I think that’s hugely in our economic interests.
Obviously, this is a matter of negotiation and discussion with the EU, but the summit we have this year will not be just be a stocktake summit where we look at actually the ten strands that we put in place last year. It will be a deliberate ambition on our part to go further than that and to cooperate more deeply, including in the economic sphere.”
Earlier on, he explained that “it is increasingly clear that as the world continues down this volatile path, our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe and with the European Union.”
Again, more on that on the UK blog:
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'Whatever pressure on me and others, noise, ... this is not our war,' UK's Starmer tells Trump
The UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, is the first one to react to Trump’s comments in The Telegraph, as he gets asked about it at his No10 press conference just now.
He defends Nato as “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen,” and while he doesn’t respond to Trump’s comments, he says:
“Let me say a number of things in response to that. Firstly, Nato is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen, and it has kept us safe for many decades. And we are fully committed to Nato.
Secondly, that whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I’m going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions that I make. And that’s why I’ve been absolutely clear that this is not our war, and we’re not going to get dragged into it.”
For more lines from Starmer, check our UK politics live blog:
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Trump's frustration with Nato over its refusal to back his Iran war is clear - snap analysis
Trump’s latest comments come as he increasingly hardens his language against European allies, blaming him for difficulties in his Iran operation.
In last days, he specifically targeted European allies, calling them “cowards” and telling them to “build up some delayed courage” and take control over the strait of Hormuz.
He and his senior officials also criticised a number of specific countries, particularly Spain, which has been most vocally critical of the US-Israeli war against Iran, and France.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, warned last night about the sharply escalating frustration with Nato, as he told Fox News:
“We are going to have to reexamine the value of Nato and that alliance for our country. Ultimately, that’s a decision for the president to make … but I do think, unfortunately, we are going to have to reexamine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose or has now become a one-way street where America is simply in a position to help Europe but when we need the help of our allies, they deny us basing rights and overflight.
I think these are very legitimate questions that we need to be asking and these are going to have to be very carefully examined after this conflict is over.”
Italy is the latest country to risk the US administration’s anger, after it has denied the use of an airbase in Sicily to US military planes carrying weapons for the war in Iran after the US did not follow the required authorisation procedure.
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US could review its Nato membership amid frustrations over Iran war, strait of Hormuz, Trump tells Telegraph
US president Donald Trump has suggested to the Telegraph newspaper that he is “strongly considering” pulling the US out of Nato, saying the alliance was “a paper tiger” amid his growing frustration with the European partners’s refusal to join the Iran war.
When he was seemingly asked if he would reconsider the US’s membership of the alliance after the conflict, he replied: “Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration.”
“I was never swayed by Nato. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way,” he told the paper.
Repeating his increasingly strong criticism of the alliance, he added:
“We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us.”
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Germany's growth forecast halved on fears over impact of Middle East war
Over in Germany, leading economic institutes cut their growth forecasts for the country, warning that surging inflation resulting from the Middle East war and rising energy costs would hit Europe’s top economy hard.
The German economy should grow by 0.6% in 2026, the seven institutes said, down from a September forecast of 1.3%, while inflation is predicted to stand at 2.8%, up from 2.0%.
Ukrainian drone manufacturers to meet with Romania to discuss joint production using EU funds
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone manufacturers are meeting Romanian defence ministry and army officials in Bucharest this week to discuss potential joint production under a new European Union rearmament funding mechanism, the ministry said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
Romania, an EU and Nato state, shares a 650-km land border with Ukraine and has had drones breach its airspace and fragments fall on its territory repeatedly since Russia began attacking Kyiv’s ports located across the Danube from Romania.
Reuters noted that the EU has allotted Romania €16.6bn under its new rearmament initiative SAFE, which will begin later this year, and defence minister Radu Miruță said the country wanted to spend 200 million euros for joint drone production.
Fifteen Ukrainian companies will continue discussing the project in Bucharest in the coming days, he added.
Morning opening: Zelenskyy hopes for 'results' in talks with US over Easter ceasefire
With most eyes still on the Middle East, and growing US frustrations with European Nato allies' over their decisions to deny the use of their bases for offensive operations in Iran, there is often much less focus on Ukraine.
But the two universes will collide today, as the wartorn country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will sit down for talks with the US negotiators to discuss the last steps to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to EU foreign ministers visiting Ukraine yesterday, Zelenskyy brought up his proposal of a ceasefire over the Easter holidays, saying he wanted the US to support this idea.
“We are waiting for a response from Russia. Tomorrow I will speak with the American team, including on this issue. We hope for results,” he said.
I will keep an eye for the latest updates.
Meanwhile, Europe is increasingly thinking about how to soften the economic blow of the continuing Middle East war and energy disruptions, with growing concerns about what it could mean for several EU countries who are particularly vulnerable to any disruptions to imports from the Gulf. Gulp.
I will bring you all the latest here.
It’s Wednesday, 1 April 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
