Belgrade/Kyiv, 11 June 2025, dtt-net.com – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today held a bilateral meeting with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic, in the margins of Ukraine-Southeast Europe Summit held in Odesa, despite the latter refusing to join EU sanctions on Russia over military aggression against Ukraine launched three years ago and ongoing.
“I am grateful for his participation in the Ukraine – Southeast Europe Summit and for the assistance to Ukraine. This is the President’s first visit to Ukraine, and it is truly important to be here in Ukraine and witness the war firsthand,” Zelenskyy said through X after meeting with Vucic.
“We discussed mutual support on the path to the EU, bilateral cooperation, and Ukraine’s reconstruction. I thank for the initiative to help with the recovery efforts and to assume patronage over the reconstruction of several Ukrainian settlements. This is a truly effective form of cooperation, and we look forward to positive results. We value Serbia’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.
The summit was attended by high-level officials of Albania, Bulgaria Croatia, Greece, Slovenia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania.
Vucic refused to sign a joint declaration which condemned the Russia war of aggression against Ukraine.
“We condemn Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine in the strongest possible terms. It constitutes a grave crime against the Ukrainian people, a blatant violation of international law — including the UN Charter — and a severe threat to peace, security, and stability across the wider European continent and globally,” reads the declaration signed by other participants of the Summit.
“This is my fourth time that I’m at the Sumit of South-Eastern Europe and Ukraine, and again I’m the only one who did not accept the declaration”, Vucic told Serbian media.
Serbia refuses to join EU sanctions on Russia over military aggression against Ukraine, but has send humanitarian aid, however.
Some reports say that Serbian armament and ammunition is ending in Ukraine, at the same time.
Vucic said on May 29 that he will order to halt any sales of arms and ammunition on which there are suspicion of end-user “misuse” by purchasing countries, following accusations by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) that Serbian defence enterprises, “continue to supply ammunition to Kyiv” through “fake end-user certificates and intermediary countries”.
In a media statement titled “Serbian military industry tries to shoot Russia in the back,” SVR said that Serbian defence enterprises, “contrary to the ‘neutrality’ declared by official Belgrade, continue to supply ammunition to Kyiv.”
‘The cover for anti-Russian actions is a simple scheme using fake end-user certificates and intermediary countries. Among the latter, NATO countries are most often mentioned, primarily the Czech Republic, Poland, and Bulgaria. Recently, exotic options involving African countries have also been used for this purpose,” it said.
“The largest companies of the national military-industrial complex, including Yugoimport SDPR, Zenitprom, Krusik, Sofag, Reyer DTI, Sloboda, Prvi Partizan and others, are participating in the “death conveyor belt” organized in Russia-friendly Serbia,” according to the SVR statement.
Vucic told state-owned RTS that he had discussed the matter with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, during his May 9 visit in Moscow which followed with formation of a joint group to fact-check the claims.
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