Just three days after Moscow criticised Serbia for “lukewarm reactions to Russophobic statements by Ukrainian officials during their visit to Belgrade”, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has arrived in Kyiv – marking his first visit since 2022 and the start of the Russian invasion of that country.
Upon his arrival in the Ukrainian capital, a video of him stepping off a train was posted on Vučić’s Instagram account, accompanied by a comment stating that he expects a good “South-East Europe – Ukraine” summit.
“I believe we will have a good summit, provide each other with support on the European path, and increase bilateral cooperation,” the Instagram post reads.
Vučić had previously stated that he is also scheduled to hold a separate bilateral meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Of course, it is good when you cooperate. I have participated in four such gatherings so far—in Odesa, Dubrovnik, Athens, and Tirana. But this will not be simple either, bearing in mind the proposed declaration and everything else,” Vučić told journalists in Paris, where he attended the Bastille Day celebrations, France’s national holiday.
In this way, Serbia continues its balancing act between Russia, Western European powers, America, and China as the main pillars of its foreign policy.
Despite being a candidate for European Union (EU) membership, Serbia remains the only European country, alongside Belarus, that has not imposed sanctions on Russia over its attack on Ukraine. Consequently, Brussels frequently criticises Belgrade and demands that it “align with the EU’s foreign policy”.
This is an attempt at a so-called multi-vector foreign policy, said James Ker-Lindsay, a political analyst focusing on the Balkans, in an interview with BBC News Serbian in early July.
“The problem is that this is not possible and is not a reasonable approach to conducting foreign policy… Things simply do not work that way,” Ker-Lindsay believes.
Vučić, who visited Odesa-Ukraine’s largest Black Sea port – in 2025, has repeatedly stressed that Serbia has never been against Ukraine, nor has Ukraine ever done anything to harm Serbia.
He particularly highlights that Ukraine is one of the countries that has not recognised the independence of Kosovo.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia does not recognise it.
Ukrainian Parliament Speaker’s visit to Belgrade angers Moscow
In early July, the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, became the highest-ranking official to visit Belgrade. The Ukrainian official’s visit to Belgrade came just a few months after a visit by Russian Minister Maxim Reshetnikov.
“Welcome to Serbia, dear friend,” the President of the Serbian Parliament, Ana Brnabić, wrote on her Instagram account to welcome him.The two of them then jointly opened the Conference of Speakers of Parliaments of EU Candidate Countries, and Stefanchuk also met separately with Vučić.
“Today in Belgrade I want to state clearly – Serbs are not little Russians”
“Ukrainians are not little Russians, Moldovans and Georgians have never been and will never be little Russians… One day, we will all certainly become EU member states,” Stefanchuk said.
A few days later, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reacted sharply, stating that “the lack of reaction from Serbia to the Russophobic campaign is regrettable”.
This was not the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022 that the Russian authorities did not look favourably upon Belgrade’s actions. During 2025, Russia criticised Serbia over the export of weapons and ammunition which, as intelligence services in Moscow claimed, ended up with the Ukrainian military.
Zakharova also criticised Vučić when, in November 2025, he announced the possibility that Serbia might, after all, introduce some sanctions against Russia.
However, to this day, Serbia has not imposed any sanctions on Russia.
World Trade Organisation a stumbling block
Alongside the “sitting on multiple chairs” foreign policy, one of the sticking points in relations between Belgrade and Kyiv has been the negotiations regarding Serbia’s membership in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The arrival of Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka in Belgrade in May brought progress in this area.
Representatives of the two governments signed a joint statement on resuming negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement.
Ukraine is the only country in Europe with which Serbia has not signed such an agreement, which is one of the conditions for joining the WTO.
The negotiations began in 2005 as part of Serbia’s WTO accession process. Among the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have also not yet become members.
A stumbling block emerged 21 years ago when Ukraine and Serbia failed to agree on customs duties for certain agricultural and industrial products.
As a WTO member, Ukraine demanded bilateral negotiations with Serbia as a condition for its admission.
WTO membership is also the primary condition for closing negotiating Chapter 30 with the European Union, which concerns international economic relations.
How have relations developed since 2022?
Kyiv and Belgrade’s relations are “fairly decent despite all the extenuating circumstances”, such as the war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as Serbia’s dependence on and close relations with Russia, Branka Latinović, a former Serbian ambassador to the OSCE, told BBC News Serbian in May 2026.
Serbia has voted in favour of several United Nations resolutions condemning Russian aggression. Since the start of the war, it has accepted Ukrainian refugees, sent financial aid, and indirectly sent weapons to Ukraine – causing dissatisfaction in the Kremlin.
Since February 2022, Serbian and Ukrainian officials have met multiple times, mostly on the sidelines of international summits.
There had been no direct visits at the presidential or prime-ministerial level.
Vučić and Zelenskyy spoke at summits in Moldova in June 2023 – where they first met – in Athens in August 2023, in Granada in October of the same year, as well as in Tirana in February 2024 and Odesa in June 2025.
Vučić’s first visit to Ukraine in 13 years came a month after his trip to Russia.
During that visit, Vučić offered the hosts assistance in rebuilding war-torn regions.
By coming to Odesa, Serbia did not “betray Russia”, he stated at the time.
A year earlier, in May 2024, Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine, visited Belgrade alongside Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. In November last year, the President of the Serbian Parliament, Ana Brnabić, met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
What is the Ukraine-South East Europe summit?
The Ukraine-South East Europe Summit, which is being held today, 15 July, in Kyiv, was launched in 2022 to strengthen ties between Kyiv and the countries of South-East Europe amid the war with Russia.
Participants of the 2024 Dubrovnik summit adopted a joint declaration expressing support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, while condemning Russian aggression.
Ukraine-South East Europe Summit in Dubrovnik
At the 2025 summit in Odesa, a declaration was adopted calling for the imposition of additional sanctions on Moscow.
(BBC Serbia, 15.07.2026)