Jovićević: Zelenskyy is forced to accept the invitation in order to defend his country, while Vučić is trying to restore relations with the EU in order to remain in power

I primarily interpret Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Belgrade as an attempt by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who is under increasing pressure at home and facing elections that, regardless of how long he delays them, he will ultimately have to hold, to balance or improve his considerably damaged relations with the European Union (EU) - journalist and foreign policy analyst Biljana Jovićević said in an interview with Portal ETV.

She recalled that Serbia has witnessed mass protests over the past two years, which, although their intensity has waned at certain points, have nevertheless seriously shaken Vučić’s rule. According to her, it is logical to expect that, as elections approach, repression against students, citizens, the opposition and civil society will intensify.

MOTIVE

- The EU, precisely because of this excessive use of force and intimidation, I would dare say almost reluctantly, was forced to cool relations with Vučić, and once again - as has happened many times before - turn a blind eye to the almost certain use by Vučić and the Serbian Progressive Party of all available state apparatus and repressive measures in an attempt to remain in power. Vučić needs a certain trump card, and President Zelenskyy fit perfectly into that role for several reasons - Jovićević believes.

She pointed out that the defence of Ukraine is one of the European Union’s key concerns and that any support for Ukraine is more than significant, even if it comes from Vučić’s regime.

- The fact is that, regardless of the fact that this regime has stood and continues to stand wholeheartedly with Ukraine’s aggressor, Russia, it has regularly supplied weapons to Kyiv in exchange for payment. At a time when the EU itself is unable to secure the necessary weapons for Ukraine’s defence, and when the United States, although the Trump administration has to some extent changed its initially hostile attitude towards President Zelenskyy, is facing a serious shortage of weapons for its own needs and for the attack it launched on Iran together with Israel - Jovićević explained.

She recalled that the Ukrainian leader, whose country has been strongly and courageously resisting Russian aggression for five years, is forced to accept such invitations in order to defend his country, particularly when they secure desperately needed arms deliveries.

- Let me remind you that, with the exception of drones, in which the Ukrainians themselves have become experts, the overwhelming majority of their other weapons have come from the United States, even when the EU was paying for them. However, about a week ago, what had more or less been speculated about for some time leaked into the American media: that US stocks of missiles and interceptors are reportedly so low, allegedly down to just 20 percent, that Pentagon military leaders told Trump he would have to choose „whether to defend the United States or Israel“. Following this, the US president launched a fierce attack on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The fact that this was probably true is also supported by Trump’s reaction: he did not deny the claims, but instead tried to shift the blame onto the previous Biden administration and its support for Ukraine, while calling for those who leaked the information to the media to be identified and prosecuted - Jovićević pointed out.

She added that the Ukrainian president is doing everything he can to secure the continuation of US arms deliveries and that, for this purpose, two weeks ago in Washington, at the funeral of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, he met both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is accused by the International Criminal Court of war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

President Zelenskyy, she stressed, is effectively forced to secure every possible form of support that will enable him to defend his country, which is logically his priority.

VUČIĆ’S PRIORITY

- And, of course, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, whose priority is survival in power, knows this very well and this time tried to use it for his own purposes: to restore relations with the EU - which, I fear, and perhaps justifiably so, will once again soften its stance towards him ahead of the elections because he is targeting one of its most vulnerable points: the defence of Ukraine. Through this act of balancing towards Ukraine, Vučić once again tried to send a message to the EU that Belgrade’s ties with Moscow are not as close as they appear, and perhaps also to try to ease the pressure over NIS, although that pressure is coming primarily from the United States - Jovićević stressed.

According to our interviewee, the fact that this was indeed an act of balancing by Vučić, aimed at remaining in power, and one that the Kremlin will also turn a blind eye to, is reflected in the performative aspect of the meeting as well as in the way the Russian press interpreted everything we saw and heard in Belgrade: President Zelenskyy was not met at the airport by the Serbian president, as would have been logical, but by Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović Handanović, in an apparent attempt to reduce the impact of the meeting in Belgrade.

- At the press conference, Vučić said that they „had not discussed military cooperation“, but that they would address the issue after the war, which he hopes will end soon - these were also the points Russian media outlets emphasised in an attempt to diminish the impact of the visit - Jovićević said.

Under the circumstances, and with the upcoming elections in mind, Aleksandar Vučić is very skilfully, our interviewee notes, trying to prepare the ground externally - returning to what had been his more or less successful balancing act between the EU and the Kremlin (with China, of course), while taking advantage of Ukraine’s predicament.

- On the other hand, we also saw understandable disappointment in Kosovo, as well as in other places where Ukraine enjoys sincere and genuine support in its struggle against Russian aggression. But all these facts must be taken into account, above all the fact that, amid increasing chaos and an unclear rearrangement of the pieces at the global level, the primary interest of the Ukrainian president, whose country has been bleeding for five years, is to ensure the defence of his own country, and that this was probably just one in a series of moves or visits he had to undertake for that purpose - Jovićević concluded.