A Ukrainian expert said that in his opinion, Volodymyr Zelensky is currently negotiating with Serbia behind the scenes for military equipment, as he did with Bulgaria in the days after the full-scale Russian invasion.
A few days ago, Zelensky visited Belgrade, for the first time since the start of the war, where he met with Aleksandar Vučić. Ukrainian expert on international and domestic politics Ilya Kotov believes that Kiev and Belgrade can help each other militarily, despite the well-known close ties of the Serbs with Moscow.
“I would like to remind you that earlier there was a certain scandal between Moscow and Vucic due to the fact that Serbia sold weapons to third countries, which then ended up in Ukraine. Let's be logical and look at things realistically. Could this have happened without the political will of the Serbian leadership? Of course, it couldn't”, Kotov told OBOZ.ua.
”Serbia has enough weapons, in particular Soviet and Russian production. I am sure that this has been discussed - cautiously, of course, not publicly, but this cooperation will continue. There is also talk of the possibility of deploying weapons manufactured in Ukraine on the territory of Serbia, for example, unmanned aerial vehicles. This also seems logical, because Serbia is interested in such technologies,” Kotov pointed out.
“That is, we should look not only at public results, but also at what our enemy does not need to know about. The war continues and many things really should remain a military secret”, said the analyst.
He gave as an example the negotiations between Ukraine and Bulgaria after the invasion, which later became clear that were crucial for Ukraine to stop the advance of the Russian army.
The German newspaper Die WELT even wrote that Bulgaria saved Ukraine because in the first months of the war, ammunition supplies amounted to a third of the needs of the Ukrainian army. Fuel exports also played a key role.
”[Later] we learned how Bulgaria supported Ukraine in 2022 after the start of the full-scale invasion. This was not publicly announced because Bulgaria was afraid of Moscow's reaction and did not want to completely ruin relations. But at that time it extended a hand to Ukraine - both with fuel and, I want to emphasize, in the military direction. Therefore, I am not ready to rule out that today the same negotiations and the same effective agreements are being held between Ukraine and Serbia,” Kotov said.
Serbia has a strong defense industry and its ammunition is already reaching the Ukrainian front through other countries. If Kiev and Belgrade switch to joint production, this will be direct cooperation. For Belgrade, there is also a completely practical interest here. Serbia wants to join the EU, and cooperation with Ukraine shows its European partners that Belgrade is not isolating itself in the Russian camp.
Vučić’s policy is as follows: to have good relations with Russia, not to quarrel with Europe and at the same time gradually expand its contacts with Ukraine. It is too early to talk about Serbia’s withdrawal from Russia. Rather, we are talking about a gradual shift in the balance. And this is exactly what may irritate the Kremlin the most. Russia is not losing Serbia with one decision, but is gradually losing its monopoly on relations with Belgrade, OBOZ.ua also writes.