BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s populist president said Wednesday that he hasn’t changed his mind about attending Vladimir Putin ’s victory day parade in Moscow next month despite great pressure from the European Union over his decision.
European officials have warned Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that his visit to Moscow for the World War II commemorations would be a breach of the bloc’s membership criteria for potential new members and could derail the country’s declared EU ambitions.
The visit would also effectively amount to a show of support for Putin and Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
Vucic, who has often expressed pro-Russian views, has said that one of Serbia’s military units would be participating in the May 9 parade on the Red Square in the Russian capital. He also said that for the first time Serbia is taking part in “jointly” organizing the parade.
“In the coming period, we will be under pressure regarding the event in Moscow in which we have announced our participation," Vucic told reporters.
Earlier this week, EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc "made it very clear that we do not want any candidate country to participate in these events on the 9th of May in Moscow.”
Though he claims he wants to take Serbia to the EU, Vucic has maintained close relations with Russia and refused to introduce Western sanctions against Moscow, policies that have almost completely stalled the Balkan country's accession talks with the 27-nation bloc.
Vucic has said he would travel to Moscow with his right-wing ally, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico. The Slovakian leader has branded as “disrespectful” remarks by Kallas warning European leaders against traveling to Moscow.
Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik has said he will also be attending.
At home, Vucic has faced massive student-led anti-corruption protests that have seriously shaken his autocratic 13-year rule. They started soon after the Nov. 1 rail station canopy collapse in the northern town of Novi Sad that killed 16 people. The collapse has been linked to murky deals with Chinese and other construction firms building in the Balkan country.
Also on Wednesday, Serbian parliament approved a new government packed with anti-EU ministers, including Information Minister Boris Bratina who has been shown recently setting an EU flag on fire and chanting “we don't want the EU, we want union with Russia.”
The previous government collapsed under protesters' pressure.
At the same news conference on Wednesday, Vucic cited a report by Russia's spy agency, FSB, which claimed that widespread reports that the authorities used a sonic devise to target massive and peaceful anti-Vucic protests on March 15 in Belgrade are fake.
Sonic weapons, which use sound waves to incapacitate a person, have been used as crowd control devices.
“The Russian FSB categorically concluded that there was no use of any sonic weapons,” Vucic said. He did not elaborate how FSB had concluded this or whether the agency investigated the alleged incident in Belgrade.
Protesting Serbian university students who rode bicycles from Novi Sad, Serbia, arrive the heart of the European Union to seek support, Tuesday, April 15, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaks during a public address in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaks during a public address in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaks during a public address in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Russia and Ukraine are due to hold their first direct peace talks in three years Friday, gathering in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations, but officials and observers expect them to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more than 3-year war.
A Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was due to meet with a low-level Russian team headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.
The latest push to end the fighting got off to a rocky start on Thursday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face. Delegations from the two countries also flew to different Turkish cities and put together teams of significantly different diplomatic heft for possible talks.
Although expectations for a possible Putin-Zelenskyy meeting were low, the apparent lack of traction in peace efforts frustrated hopes of bold steps being taken in Turkey toward reaching a settlement.
The two sides are far apart in their conditions for ending the war, and U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday during a trip to the Middle East that a meeting between himself and Putin was crucial to breaking the deadlock.
On Friday, Trump said a meeting with Putin would happen “as soon as we can set it up.”
“I think it’s time for us to just do it,” Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
Ukraine has accepted a U.S. and European proposal for a full, 30-day ceasefire, but Putin has effectively rejected it by imposing far-reaching conditions.
Meantime, Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive, Ukrainian government and Western military analysts say.
Russia’s invasion has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, the U.N. says, and razed towns and villages. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died, and likely a larger number of Russian troops, officials and analysts say.
A Friday morning drone attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk killed a 55-year-old woman and wounded four men, Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, said. All the victims worked for a municipal utility.
After Putin didn’t take up Zelenskyy’s challenge to sit down with him in the Turkish capital on Thursday, the Ukrainian president accused Moscow of not making a serious effort to end the war by sending a low-level negotiating team that he described as “a theater prop.”
Even so, Zelenskyy said that he was sending a team headed by his defense minister to Friday’s meeting in Istanbul. That would show Trump that Ukraine is determined to press ahead with peace efforts despite Russian foot-dragging, Zelenskyy said, amid intense diplomatic maneuvering by Kyiv and Moscow.
The Russian delegation also includes three other senior officials, the Kremlin said. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as “experts” for the talks.
A flurry of diplomatic activity took place in Istanbul before the talks.
Ukrainian officials held an early-morning meeting with national security advisers from the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom to coordinate positions, a senior Ukrainian official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The U.S. team was led by retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, while Umerov and presidential office chief Andriy Yermak represented Ukraine, the official said.
A three-way meeting between Turkey, the U.S. and Ukraine also took place, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said. The U.S. side included Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as Kellogg.
Rubio on Thursday said he didn't foresee major developments in Istanbul.
“We don’t have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow. And frankly, at this point, I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin,” Rubio told reporters Thursday in Antalya, Turkey.
Zelenskyy, meantime, flew to Albania to attend a meeting Friday of the leaders of 47 European countries to discuss security, defense and democratic standards against the backdrop of the war.
Aamer Madhani in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, servicemen prepare the drone "Kazhan" that delivers supply and carry heavy bombs, on the front line near Chasiv Yar town, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
Vehicles begin arriving outside a gate prior to expected talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations at the Dolmabache palace, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)
Vehicles begin arriving outside a gate prior to expected talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations at the Dolmabache palace, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)
