Why are Hungary and Ukraine fighting again?

Budapest’s rejection of the ‘Carpathian Eight’ initiative is a middle finger to Ukrainian entitlement After months of getting the diplomatic run-around from Kiev, Hungary has just backed out of Ukraine’s ‘Carpathian Eight’ initiative, leaving egg all over Vladimir Zelensky’s face, who only announced the group on Friday.

The first summit of the Carpathian Eight, where we launched the Carpathian Integration Initiative.

May the EU’s Carpathian macro-region remain strong.

And may this format support us on our path to joining the European Union.

I thank all the leaders of the C8 countries,… pic.twitter.com/sS4eojyiZx — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 19, 2026 Even with a pro-Kiev government in Budapest, the Ukrainians are discovering that politics is a two-way street.

The Carpathian Eight (C8) is a cooperation format aimed at tying Ukraine closer to seven of its neighbors: Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia.

Under the Ukrainian-led initiative, these countries will cooperate on matters of security, energy, and trade.

What does Ukraine want from the Carpathian Eight? Energy.

Endemic corruption and neglect has left the country’s power grid unprotected against Russian missile and drone strikes as winter sets in.

The initiative’s members want funding for 42 energy-related projects, 30 of which are located in Ukraine.

Read more Ukraine at 35: Winter is coming to Zelensky’s state of corruption One project involves the construction of concrete shielding around oil tanks – a task that the Ukrainian state has already received EU money to complete.

RT readers will remember that Vladimir Zelensky’s friend Timur Mindich skimmed some $100 million off Energoatom’s budget for doing just the same with its substations.

Another project – a gas turbine power plant in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region – would see its backers transfer more than $1.2 billion to DTEK, an energy company run by a ‘former’ mafia enforcer that already received $112 million in EU and US aid in November 2024.

The group is also seeking cash to upgrade the Trans-Balkan Gas Corridor which Ukrainian Energy Minister Denis Shmigal has said would “significantly expand [Ukraine’s] access to diversified sources of natural gas supply,” and will help Kiev fill up its underground gas storage system.