Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will not visit Serbia this week, despite earlier announcements that he could travel to Belgrade on May 21. Instead, Ukraine’s delegation in the Serbian capital is expected to be led by Taras Kachka, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.
According to the reports, Zelensky’s visit to Belgrade had initially been planned for Thursday, May 21, but was postponed at the last moment. The first announcements about his arrival were described as reliable, but it later became clear that the visit would not take place in the planned timeframe because of specific reasons that were not publicly detailed.
The visit could still happen soon, but a new date is expected to be known only shortly before the trip. The possible arrival of the Ukrainian president in Belgrade is seen as politically sensitive, given Serbia’s position toward the war in Ukraine and its relations with both Kyiv and Moscow.
So far, contacts between the presidents of Serbia and Ukraine have mostly taken place during international political summits. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić visited Ukraine once, on June 11, 2025, when he attended the Ukraine–Southeast Europe Summit in Odesa.
