Zelenskyy Hosts First Carpathian Eight Summit in Bukovel — SkimNews
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- Zelenskyy hosted the first "Carpathian Eight" summit in Bukovel, bringing together Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and the EU to coordinate on security, energy, logistics, and cross-border economic ties.
- The summit coincided with stalled US-mediated peace efforts and the start of Russia's three-day wartime parliamentary election; Zelenskyy called it a "significant beginning" intended to "create another strong element of cooperation at the EU level."
- Russian overnight strikes killed three people and injured eight across Ukraine, setting warehouses ablaze in Zhytomyr and hitting a railway station and electric train in Kharkiv's Novovodolazka community.
- Ukraine received a 3.3 billion-euro (~$3.8 billion) EU financial tranche for defense purchases including missiles and drones, arriving as Kyiv faces a projected $27 billion budget deficit this year.
- Russia's Defense Ministry claimed it intercepted 629 Ukrainian drones overnight over 14 regions plus Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas, while Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 350+ drones were heading toward the capital.
- Russian forces struck a bulk carrier in Chornomorsk port and a Nova Poshta logistics facility 6 km northwest of Odesa, which Moscow said was used to store and distribute military cargo from Europe.
- Russia summoned the British Charge d'Affaires to protest continued UK weapons supplies, warning "any British military facilities in Ukraine used to strike Russian territory represent legitimate targets" — a warning Britain dismissed as deflection from Russia's invasion.
Why it matters: The Carpathian Eight pulls Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia — which refuse direct military aid to Ukraine — into a regional coordination framework, marking a concrete expansion of Kyiv's European partnerships even as Russia escalates kinetic strikes (three killed overnight) and hybrid threats across the continent. The 3.3 billion-euro tranche partially addresses a $27 billion budget gap.
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