PRISTINA/SKOPJE, Aug. 25 (Balkan View) – Kosovo’s acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti marked Ukraine’s 35th Independence Day by reaffirming support for Kyiv while openly challenging Ukraine’s continued refusal to recognise Kosovo, exposing a widening political tension around the issue across Albanian-speaking politics in the Balkans.
Kurti said Kosovo had stood with Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion by sheltering Ukrainian journalists, providing military assistance, joining sanctions against Moscow and offering other forms of support. He stressed, however, that solidarity had never been transactional.
“We are aware that Kyiv still does not recognise the independence of the Republic of Kosovo and that this position was repeated two weeks ago,” Kurti said at a reception marking Ukraine’s independence anniversary.
He argued that Ukraine’s stance did not withstand either historical facts or international law and said Kosovo would continue to welcome recognition from Kyiv.
Kurti’s message amounted to a carefully balanced position: continued support for Ukraine despite a fundamental disagreement over Kosovo’s statehood.
That contrasted with a sharper reaction in North Macedonia, where Albanian lawmakers were absent from a parliamentary session marking Ukraine’s independence.
Albanian MPs absent from North Macedonia ceremony
None of the Albanian MPs belonging to North Macedonia’s cross-party parliamentary group supporting the Crimea Platform attended the session marking 35 years of Ukrainian independence, according to Sloboden Pechat and Nezavisen Vesnik.
Riyad Shaqiri, an MP from the Alliance for Albanians, said his absence was deliberate.
He said that after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reaffirmed in Belgrade that Ukraine continues to respect Serbia’s territorial integrity and does not recognise Kosovo, he could no longer support official commemorations connected with Ukraine.
Other Albanian MPs offered different explanations. Representatives of DUI said members were on holiday, while independent MP Ilir Demiri said he had not known about the session and had not received an invitation.
Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi, who chairs the cross-party Crimea Platform group, was also absent. Deputy Speaker Antonio Miloshoski delivered the opening address instead.
Miloshoski reaffirmed North Macedonia’s support for Ukraine, saying the country regarded Ukrainians as a “brotherly people” and an inseparable part of Europe, while describing Skopje’s support as political, humanitarian, material and moral.
Zelenskyy’s Belgrade remarks triggered wider backlash
The dispute follows Zelenskyy’s visit to Belgrade earlier this month, where he reiterated that Ukraine had not changed its position on Kosovo.
That statement caused a backlash in Kosovo. A large Ukrainian flag that had been displayed in central Pristina as a symbol of solidarity was removed by municipal authorities, while political figures in Kosovo and Albania criticised Kyiv’s position.
Kurti, however, stopped short of linking recognition to support for Ukraine.
His approach echoed a position previously articulated by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
In an Aug. 13 post, Rama said Ukraine was “wrong about Kosovo” but argued that this did not weaken Ukraine’s right to defend itself against Russian aggression.
“Freedom does not work on cashback,” Rama wrote, rejecting arguments that Albania or Kosovo should withdraw support from Ukraine because Kyiv does not recognise Kosovo.
Rama has not posted a new Ukraine Independence Day congratulatory message on X as of Aug. 25. His most recent substantive post on the issue remains the Aug. 13 statement defending continued support for Ukraine while criticising Kyiv’s Kosovo policy.
Two competing Albanian political responses
The reactions highlight two emerging approaches among Albanian political actors in the region.
One insists that Ukraine’s position on Kosovo should have political consequences, as reflected in Shaqiri’s boycott and criticism from other Albanian politicians.
The other, represented more clearly by Kurti and Rama, separates support for Ukraine from the recognition question.
Kurti’s formulation was especially direct: Kosovo disputes Kyiv’s legal and historical reasoning, but that disagreement does not cancel solidarity with Ukraine.
His government said Kosovo had backed Ukraine through sanctions on Russia, military assistance, training of Ukrainian personnel and the hosting of journalists displaced by the war.
At the same time, Kurti argued that Ukrainian recognition of Kosovo would strengthen rather than weaken the international legal principles Kyiv invokes in defending its own sovereignty.
That argument is likely to remain politically sensitive because Serbia continues to reject Kosovo’s independence and Ukraine maintains diplomatic relations with Belgrade while refusing recognition of Pristina.
For Kosovo, the dilemma is now increasingly visible: how to maintain unequivocal support for a country fighting territorial aggression while continuing to challenge that same country’s interpretation of Serbia’s territorial sovereignty.