Zelensky's First Belgrade Visit, Vucic Sets Three Topics
Zelensky's visit to Serbia is scheduled for Saturday, August 8, his first as Ukrainian president since taking office in 2019. Vucic named three topics for the talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will pay an official visit to the Republic of Serbia on Saturday, August 8, the Service for Cooperation with the Media of the President of the Republic announced on August 6. The host is Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and the meeting will take place in Belgrade.
Zelensky’s visit is his first bilateral trip to Serbia since taking office in 2019, and also his first time in the country since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. The two leaders have met before at international gatherings, including the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2025, where they shook hands in front of the cameras.
Vucic laid out what he expects from the talks the same day, answering reporters’ questions after greeting firefighters who had helped battle wildfires in Spain.
“The president of Ukraine is coming for his first bilateral visit. We have met five or six times so far, mostly at various summits and conferences. We have several important topics. One is the European path of Ukraine and Serbia, since we find ourselves in a similar situation, facing the same or similar problems on that path. I believe we will discuss how we can help each other on that question, if possible, and learn some things from one another.”
He named bilateral economic cooperation as the second topic and energy cooperation between Serbia and Ukraine as the third. Every other subject is open too, he added: “So, our cooperation in culture, sports, everything else.”
Does the Visit Signal a Shift in Serbia’s Stance on Russia Sanctions?
No, at least not according to the host. Asked by reporters whether Zelensky’s arrival means Serbia will join sanctions against the Russian Federation, Vucic replied that the policy was set almost five years ago.
“As for sanctions, let me answer you directly: Serbia has established its own policy. I am certain Volodymyr Zelensky will, in line with his own struggle and his own views, say what he thinks about sanctions against the Russian Federation, but the Republic of Serbia set out its position four and a half years ago, almost five years ago, and it has not changed it since. That is how things will stay for now.”
The wording is carefully built. Vucic gets ahead of the gap by acknowledging that his guest will speak differently about sanctions, turning the disagreement into an expected item on the agenda rather than an incident that could overshadow the visit.
Why Belgrade Highlights Ukraine’s Position on Kosovo
Vucic pointed out that Ukraine has not recognized Kosovo’s independence and that it has hosted the Southeast Europe, Ukraine summit twice on its own territory without ever inviting representatives from Pristina.
“These are things we must respect,” the Serbian president said.
That detail explains why the Belgrade visit is politically workable despite the disagreement over sanctions. Kyiv is one of the few European capitals that has not budged on Kosovo and Metohija, and Belgrade, in turn, repeats its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty in every official statement. Mutual backing for each other’s European path is the second pillar of the relationship, since both countries hold candidate status and run into similar roadblocks along the way.
What Might Be Signed
N1 reported in May 2026, when the Ukrainian delegation’s arrival was previously expected, that diplomatic sources in Belgrade were counting on signing a joint memorandum of understanding on trade cooperation between the two countries. That document was not signed at the time. The economic cooperation Vucic listed as the second topic of the meeting is exactly the framework the memorandum would fall under, making Saturday the first chance to turn May’s announcement into paper with two signatures.
Energy cooperation, the third topic on the list, was not spelled out in either the announcement or the Serbian president’s remarks. Mentioning it in the same breath as the sanctions question shows how narrow the space for this conversation is, since energy is the one topic of the three that cannot be separated from how each country deals with Moscow.
The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, August 8, in Belgrade.
