
Serbian leader to make first visit to Ukraine since invasion
The Balkan nation with close historical links to Russia has maintained an official policy of neutrality throughout Moscow's three-year offensive on Ukraine and has denied arming either side.
But in recent days Russia accused Serbian arms companies of 'trying to stab Russia in the back' by selling munitions to Ukraine.
Just weeks before that, Vucic joined the 80th anniversary celebrations on Moscow's Red Square for Russia's victory over Nazi Germany.
'The president of the Serbian Republic will visit Ukraine for the day of Wednesday June 11, where he will participate in the Ukraine-Southeastern Europe summit,' the presidency said in a statement.
Serbia and Ukraine have neither confirmed nor denied that Kyiv uses Serbian munitions.
It will be the first visit to Ukraine by Serbia's head of state since Moscow launched its invasion more than three years ago.
Vucic has attempted to walk a tightrope between traditional ally Russia and Serbia's desire to join the European Union, which is one of Ukraine's main backers in the war against invading Russian forces.
Both Serbia and Russia share a dislike and distrust of NATO, particularly since the defence organisation carried out bombardments on Serbian troops in 1999 during the Kosovo War.
Despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Serbia refuses to cut ties with Moscow, despite voting against its long-standing ally at the United Nations.
Belgrade is highly dependent on cheap gas it buys from Russia.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Free Malaysia Today
40 minutes ago
- Free Malaysia Today
EU urges Ukraine to uphold independent anti-corruption bodies
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the bill could be adopted as early as next week. (EPA Images pic) BRUSSELS : European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called on Sunday for president Volodymyr Zelensky to uphold independent anti-corruption bodies, with the Ukrainian leader signalling that supporting legislation could be adopted within days. 'Ukraine has already achieved a lot on its European path. It must build on these solid foundations and preserve independent anti-corruption bodies, which are cornerstones of Ukraine's rule of law,' von der Leyen said in a post on X after a call with Zelenskiy. After a rare outburst of public criticism, Zelensky on Thursday submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies – reversing the course of an earlier bill aimed at stripping their autonomy. 'I thanked the European Commission for the provided expertise,' Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his Sunday call with von der Leyen. 'We share the same vision: it is important that the bill is adopted without delay, as early as next week.' Von der Leyen also promised continued support for Ukraine on its path to EU membership. 'Ukraine can count on our support to deliver progress on its European path,' she added.


The Star
41 minutes ago
- The Star
Russia's night attack on Kyiv leaves eight injured, including child, Ukraine says
KYIV (Reuters) -A Russian overnight air attack on Kyiv wounded eight residents of an apartment building, including a three-year-old child, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said on Monday. Four of those injured in the attack, which took place soon after midnight on Monday, have been hospitalised, with one person in serious condition, the head of Kyiv's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said on the Telegram messaging app. Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that all of the people were residents of a multi-storey apartment building in the city's Darnytskyi district on the left bank of the Dnipro River. "The blast wave damaged windows from the 6th to the 11th floor," Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. The capital and most of Ukraine were under air raid alerts for several hours overnight following Ukrainian Air Force warnings of Russian missile and drone attacks. With the threat of missile strikes on western parts of Ukraine that border Poland - a NATO member - Polish armed forces scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace. The central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskyi came under an attack, regional Governor Andriy Raikovych said, adding that emergency services were working on the site and information about potential damage will be released later on Monday. The full scale of the Russian attack on Ukraine was not immediately known. Reuters' witnesses heard loud blasts shaking the city of Kyiv overnight in what sounded like air defence units in operation. There was no comment from Russia on the attack. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes in the war that Russia started in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. (Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Kim Coghill and Saad Sayeed)


New Straits Times
41 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Papering over strains, US and allies prep for Taiwan war
AS they kicked off the largest joint military exercises in Australia's history with a press conference in Sydney earlier this month, US commanders gave a simple explanation for why 35,000 troops from 19 nations were simulating high-tech warfare. In the words of US Lieutenant General Joel Vowell, deputy commander of the US Army in the Pacific, exercise TALISMAN SABRE was intended to build the ability of the US and its allies to respond to any crisis in the Pacific – and in doing so, act as a "deterrent mechanism" to prevent a future conflict. Already, 2025 has witnessed a series of the largest and most sophisticated military drills held in the Pacific since the end of World War Two, a sign of growing nervousness over a rising China. But along with other US-led activity around the region, the drills also have a much more focused goal. They are to persuade Beijing that if it goes ahead with what are now believed to be increasingly advanced plans for an invasion of Taiwan, it risks finding itself at war not just with the US but a powerful and well-armed de facto alliance. Behind the scenes, however, sits clear diplomatic awkwardness, caused by Pacific frustrations over US President Donald Trump's tariff salvoes and trade war as well as strategic uncertainty over the US and its future global role. Unlike with its Nato allies in Europe or its main Pacific partners such as Australia, the US has no binding treaty obligations to defend Taiwan if it is attacked. Nor do Australia, the Philippines and other major players in the region. This month, the Financial Times reported that US officials were exerting mounting pressure on Australia and Japan to agree to intervene militarily if China moved against Taiwan. Under terms of the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, successive US administrations have been committed to ensuring plans and military resources are in place to protect the island against whatever Chinese menace it faces. But that does not extend to a commitment to use that force in the event of an attack. Indeed, there is a clear division of views within the Trump administration and its supporters on the wisdom of such action, as well as over how much support Washington should offer to the government in Taipei. That means America's regional allies find themselves taking a similar position. The result is a situation rather different from what the Trump administration expected to find when it entered office in January complaining loudly about a European failure to invest properly in defending their own continent and pledging to switch America's focus to confronting China. But while European Nato nations have now committed to significant spending increases – 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence with an additional 1.5 per cent on defence related infrastructure, America's Pacific allies have held back. Under hefty US pressure, Taiwan itself is working to get its defence budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP, motivated by US warnings that it might be abandoned if it does not step up its efforts. Japan spent only 1.8 per cent of GDP on defence in 2025, rising to 2 per cent by 2027 – and its prime minister Shigeru Ishida was widely suspected of skipping the Nato summit in The Hague last month to avoid pressure to do more. Japan, New Zealand, Australia and South Korea are not Nato members, but often attend large alliance meetings to discuss global and Pacific security matters. "It's hard to believe, a little bit ..., but thanks to President Trump, Asian allies should look to countries in Europe as a new-found example," US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore in May. Hegseth also warned that the Chinese threat to Taiwan was "imminent" and that Beijing viewed its capture as a key step on the road to regional domination. Since Trump took office in January, however, America's Asian allies have found themselves profoundly uncertain by the administration's cool treatment of Ukraine in the country's battle against Russian invasion. They are suddenly worried that they might similarly find themselves deprived of US arms and forced towards a deal by a future US government. Trump's tariffs and trade war rhetoric have only made such matters worse.