BELGRADE, Aug 8 (Balkan View) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Kyiv’s position on Kosovo remained unchanged, reaffirming Ukraine’s support for Serbia’s territorial integrity during his first official visit to Belgrade.
“We respect the territorial integrity of our partners, and we respect international law. Regarding Kosovo, our position remains unchanged,” Zelenskyy told a joint news conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
Zelenskyy thanked Serbia for respecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including Kyiv’s sovereignty over Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Ukraine is among the countries that do not recognise Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
Kosovo, however, has strongly backed Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Pristina has joined European Union and U.S. sanctions against Russia and has provided refuge to Ukrainian journalists displaced by the war.
Serbia reaffirms support for Ukraine’s borders
Vučić said Serbia would continue to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, while thanking Kyiv for maintaining its position on Serbia’s territorial integrity.
Serbia has condemned violations of Ukraine’s territorial integrity but remains one of the few European countries that has refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow.
The two leaders also discussed military cooperation, though Vučić did not announce a Serbian-Ukrainian defence agreement.
Vučić said Serbia was expected to open a drone factory in mid-September in cooperation with Israeli partners and praised Ukraine’s rapidly developed drone industry.
“Ukrainians are very successful and have many of their own drone factories,” he said.
EU membership and economic ties
Zelenskyy and Vučić also discussed their countries’ EU membership ambitions, infrastructure, energy, reconstruction and trade.
Vučić said Serbia would not seek to block Ukraine’s progress towards EU membership even if Kyiv moved faster than Belgrade.
“We will never create a problem, we will never say: accept us first because we started earlier,” Vučić said.
Zelenskyy said concrete infrastructure and development projects were under consideration, including Serbian participation in Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.
Both leaders expressed confidence that Serbia and Ukraine could soon conclude a free-trade agreement.
Serbia also plans additional humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, particularly medicines, energy equipment and other supplies needed during the winter, Vučić said.
A memorandum on cooperation in animal health and food safety was signed during the visit.
Visit tests Belgrade’s balancing act
Zelenskyy arrived in Belgrade on Friday for his first official visit to Serbia since becoming Ukrainian president.
The trip comes as Belgrade continues its delicate foreign-policy balancing act between its declared goal of joining the EU and its longstanding political and energy ties with Moscow.
Zelenskyy’s visit also followed Vučić’s trip to Kyiv three weeks earlier for a Ukraine-Southeast Europe summit. Vučić was the only participating leader who did not sign the summit’s joint declaration calling for increased pressure on Russia to end its invasion, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
A small group of far-right protesters gathered in central Belgrade during Zelenskyy’s visit, carrying Russian and Serbian flags as well as images of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Despite those divisions, the meeting underscored an increasingly pragmatic relationship between Belgrade and Kyiv: Serbia continues to refuse sanctions against Russia, while supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity; Ukraine, in turn, continues to reject Kosovo’s independence and backs Serbia’s territorial integrity.