Zelensky launches "Carpathian Eight" format as first summit opens in Bukovel

What happened

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 18 formally launched a new regional cooperation format called the "Carpathian Eight" (C8) at the start of its inaugural summit in Bukovel, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. The format brings together Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, Austria, Hungary and the EU, with cooperation areas defined as security, energy, logistics, cross-border economic ties and community support. The summit runs September 18-20 and includes side events such as the Carpathian Economic Forum, a Youth Forum, meetings of local authorities and sessions on cultural cooperation and nature protection.

At the Carpathian Economic Forum, the eight Carpathian countries presented a joint investment portfolio of about 95 projects worth roughly €40 billion, with about half devoted to energy (solar, wind, storage, new interconnectors and underground gas storage). Zelensky proposed a 1.5 GW Carpathian wind-energy cluster and said more than 50 agreements worth over €1 billion were prepared for signing. About 500–550 business representatives took part, and the Office of the President later reported around 1,400 participants from 25 countries.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Romanian President Nicușor Dan and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk travelled to Ukraine for the summit. Zelensky held separate bilateral meetings with each of them. With Tusk he discussed preserving unity, ending the war, a new Polish aid package and further development of the Carpathian Initiative; Tusk announced that Poland had joined the anti-ballistic coalition. With Vučić he followed up on agreements from his August visit to Belgrade, focusing on European integration of both countries and Russian strikes on Ukraine. With Dan he discussed the SAFE program, joint drone production, infrastructure, humanitarian issues and Black Sea security.

At the end of the first day, the heads of state and government of Ukraine, Austria, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia signed a final declaration founding the Carpathian Integration Initiative. The declaration commits participants to hold annual summits and to cooperate on security, energy resilience, cross-border logistics, biodiversity protection, transport corridors, cultural and natural heritage and veteran support. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico had cancelled his trip citing illness; sources disagree on whether Slovakia was represented by Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok or State Secretary Marek Eštok of the Foreign Ministry.

Where reporting differs

Sources disagree on who represented Slovakia at the summit after Prime Minister Robert Fico cancelled his trip citing illness: some name Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok, others name State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marek Eštok. The number of business representatives at the economic part of the summit is given as either about 500 or about 550. The reported total value of the joint investment portfolio varies between roughly €40 billion and over €42.5 billion. Zelensky's statement on the value of agreements reached is reported both as €1 billion and as $1 billion.

Background

The Carpathian Initiative, a pre-existing framework covering most of the same countries, has been in force since 4 January 2006; former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chalyy noted significant overlap with C8 and questioned whether the new format adds meaningful value beyond groupings such as the Bucharest Nine (B9), the Central European Initiative, the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, Via Carpatia and the Carpathian Euroregion. Ukraine has participated in the Central European Initiative since 1996 and is currently an associated partner in the Three Seas Initiative, with full membership tied to EU accession. The anti-ballistic coalition was launched in Paris in July; before Poland joined, it comprised ten European states plus Ukraine. Ukraine and Serbia are both EU candidate countries participating in C8. On 17 September a Russian strike drone fell near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing on the Ukrainian-Polish border, and Polish airports in Rzeszów and Lublin suspended operations for a third consecutive day on 18 September due to Russian strike assets over western Ukraine.