Von der Leyen, Zelenskiy discuss Druzhba pipeline at heart of loan standoff, EU Commission says

BRUSSELS, March 3 (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday discussed the Druzhba pipeline, which is at the centre of a dispute that pits Ukraine against Hungary and Slovakia and has held up approval of a 90 billion euro EU loan to Kyiv.

A Commission spokesperson said the two leaders had discussed the matter during a call but could not share any details of the conversation. Earlier von der Leyen said on X that they had discussed topics including the loan, sanctions on Russia and "the wider impact of the developments in the Middle East on energy prices, on energy security and on availability of badly needed defence materials".