President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday, in Ukraine’s Carpathians, the launch of the “C8 – Carpathian Eight” format. The inaugural summit is in Bukovel, Ivano-Frankivsk region, and brings Ukraine together with Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, Austria and Hungary, alongside the European Union as a bloc.

Leaders present included Romanian President Nicușor Dan, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. Romania’s Presidential Administration announced the visit and the opening of the associated Economic Forum.

Zelenskyy put security, energy, logistics and cross-border economic cooperation on the agenda. Some states in the group, Slovakia and Hungary, do not supply arms to Kyiv; the format is also presented as a working channel with partners who remain on other files.

Nicușor Dan said, according to reports, that Romania can share reform experience from before and after EU accession and that it supports the accession of Ukraine, Serbia and Moldova. AGERPRES stresses Romania’s profile on the Carpathian arc.

The Carpathian Eight is at an early stage. It is not an organisation with a treaty, a budget and a permanent seat. Results will depend on projects, financing and political continuity.

This article describes the 18 September launch. It does not turn an inaugural summit into an institution already built.

For Bucharest, the stakes remain the border, transport corridors, energy and economic ties with Ukraine.

Image: Zelenskyy and Nicușor Dan, Vilnius, 2 June 2025 / Wikimedia Commons. An earlier meeting, not the Carpathian Eight summit in Bukovel. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Zelenskyy launches Carpathian Eight cooperation format | Ukrainska Pravda; President Dan attending inaugural Summit of Carpathian Integration Initiative | AGERPRES.