The reactions to the Brussels compromise vary: In Brussels, EU Council President Charles Michel defended the sixth sanctions package, which includes the partial oil embargo.
"The sanctions will immediately affect 75 percent of Russian oil." By the end of the year, 90 percent of oil imports to Europe will be affected.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who had blocked an embargo until recently, welcomed the EU compromise in the dispute over the oil embargo against Russia.
"Families can sleep soundly tonight, we've fended off the most outrageous idea," Orbán said in a video message on Facebook on Tuesday.
"We have reached an agreement that states that countries that receive oil through pipelines can continue to operate their economies under the previous conditions," Orbán announced.
A total ban on Russian oil imports would have been "unacceptable" for Hungary and "like a nuclear bomb," Orbán said.
"But we managed to prevent that." Before his arrival in Brussels, Orbán had said that there was "no agreement at all".
On the other hand, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj expressed incomprehension about the EU's hesitant approach to the new sanctions package.
"Why can Russia still earn almost a billion euros a day selling energy?" asked Zelenskyj, who was connected via video.
When asked on Deutschlandfunk whether the compromise was a “sign of unity or the first crumbling of the unity of the European Union,” the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andrei Melnyk, said: “Unfortunately, both.
Of course, we welcome the sixth package of sanctions.” This is important in order to “drain” the flow of money to Russia, said Melnyk, “so that Putin can no longer finance this war to this extent”.
At the same time, he called the compromise a “half step”.
"This means that every day Putin will get hundreds of millions of euros to strengthen the army." Melnyk called for a gas embargo to be introduced faster than planned.
What is the compromise?
Ambassadors from the EU member states had been working on a compromise until just before the start of the meeting.
According to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the compromise specifically envisages initially only blocking Russian oil imports by ship.
Deliveries via pipeline should therefore continue to be allowed for the time being.
Hungary in particular had demanded this.
The country covers around two-thirds of its oil requirements via Russia's Druzhba pipeline.
According to Chancellor Scholz, Germany does not want to benefit from such an exception rule.
The Chancellor reiterated that the government is committed to "getting out of oil imports and dependence on Russia by the end of the year".
Germany and Poland, which also import a lot of oil via this pipeline, want to completely do without oil from Russia from next year.
Questions about Brussels' financial support for the energy security of the member states as part of the Corona Recovery Fund are to be discussed further on the second day of the summit on Tuesday.
This is complicated by the fact that the payment of these funds for Hungary is currently still blocked by the EU Commission.
The authority refers to abuses in the Hungarian judicial system and possible resulting misuse of funds.