Ukraine’s Strategic Partnership with the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe: The Cross-Border Dimension of Economic and Security Cooperation

Abstract

У статті досліджено трансформацію стратегічного партнерства України з країнами Центральної та Східної Європи в умовах триваючої війни та поглиблення європейської інтеграції. Обґрунтовано перехід від традиційного транскордонного співробітництва до багаторівневої моделі транскордонної стійкості, що охоплює транспорт і логістику, економічно-виробничу взаємодію, фінанси та інвестиції, безпеку, інституційний розвиток, а також освіту і науку. Визначено функціональні ролі Польщі, Словаччини, Угорщини, Румунії, Чехії та Молдови у формуванні цієї системи. Особливу увагу приділено програмам Interreg, європейським інвестиційним механізмам, спільним освітнім програмам і міжнародній акредитації як інструментам посилення інституційного узгодження України з Європейським Союзом. За результатами проведеного аналізу запропоновано концепцію транскордонного поясу економічної та безпекової стійкості України вздовж її західного та південно-західного кордонів.

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Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and the intensification of Ukraine’s European integration have fundamentally transformed the role of cross-border cooperation with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Under these conditions, cross-border interaction is evolving from a set of individual bilateral projects and infrastructure initiatives into a multidimensional system encompassing transport and logistics, economic and industrial cooperation, finance and investment, security, institutional development, education, and research. However, these dimensions are still insufficiently integrated within a comprehensive framework of economic and security resilience. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the role of Ukraine’s strategic partnerships with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in shaping an integrated cross-border space of economic and security resilience, identify the functional specialisation of the main partnership directions, and determine the role of education, human capital, and international accreditation in strengthening Ukraine’s institutional compatibility with the European Union. Results. The study applies systemic, institutional, comparative, and structural-functional approaches and is based on the analysis of academic publications, legal and strategic documents, EU institutional materials, international agreements, crossborder cooperation programmes, and official analytical sources. The analysis demonstrates that Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Moldova perform complementary functions within Ukraine’s cross-border partnership system. Poland represents a major logistical, trade, financial, security, and educational gateway to the EU; Slovakia and Hungary strengthen Carpathian transport, energy, and labour-market linkages; Romania contributes to the Danube–Black Sea transport and security dimension; the Czech Republic provides technological, industrial, defence, and research cooperation; while Moldova supports parallel regulatory, transport, energy, and institutional adaptation to EU frameworks. The study substantiates the need to integrate transport infrastructure, investment, production, human capital, innovation, financing, and markets into long-term functional chains. Particular attention is given to Interreg programmes, investment mechanisms, university networks, joint educational programmes, and international accreditation as instruments of institutional learning, human-capital development, and European integration. Based on the findings, the concept of Ukraine’s cross-border belt of economic and security resilience along its western and south-western borders is proposed. Conclusions. Ukraine’s strategic partnership with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe is gradually developing into an interconnected regional system in which economic, transport, financial, security, institutional, educational, and research dimensions mutually reinforce one another. The effectiveness of this system depends on the functional complementarity of individual partnership directions, the development of resilient infrastructure and investment mechanisms, the strengthening of institutional capacity, and the integration of human capital into cross-border economic processes. The proposed cross-border resilience model provides a conceptual basis for combining European integration, reconstruction, economic continuity, infrastructure diversification, and human-capital development. Further research should focus on empirical verification of the proposed model through indicators of transport and trade flows, investment, joint projects, inter-university cooperation, insurance and guarantee mechanisms, and border-crossing capacity.