Zelensky meets Vucic on first Serbia visit

BELGRADE/KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade on Saturday, marking the first visit by a Ukrainian president to Serbia in eight years.

Speaking at a joint news conference, Vucic described Ukraine as a "friendly nation" and said he was honored to welcome the Ukrainian leader. He reiterated that Serbia respects Ukraine's territorial integrity, saying that position would not change, but stopped short of pledging to impose sanctions on Russia.

The two leaders also discussed their countries' efforts toward joining the European Union and the development of bilateral relations. Both Vucic and Zelensky said the two countries want to improve economic cooperation and complete a free trade agreement by the end of the year.

Zelensky said he and Vucic also discussed joint infrastructure projects and cooperation on energy and food security for the upcoming winter in Ukraine.

The talks came as Ukraine continued to seek additional air defense support from Western countries. Speaking to reporters in Belgrade, Zelensky confirmed that Washington had agreed to supply Ukraine with interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system every month, but said the volume remained insufficient to meet the country's needs.

He said the number of interceptor missiles Ukraine is expected to receive in 2026 would be lower than in 2025, without disclosing specific figures. Zelensky said Ukraine was working to manufacture its own Patriot air defense interceptors, but that some licensing procedures were taking time.

Drone incident

The visit came as a drone incident was reported in Bulgaria. A drone entered Bulgarian airspace on Saturday and exploded close to an international gas pipeline shortly after crossing the border from Romania. There were no casualties or damage.

Bulgaria's Defense Ministry said an initial analysis of the wreckage indicated the drone was most likely a "Maya" decoy drone, a type widely used by the Ukrainian armed forces. The ministry said there was no reason to believe the incident was intentional.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said the Ukrainian military was investigating the incident and that Ukraine did not deliberately target Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the drone exploded about 100 meters inside Bulgarian territory, around 200 meters from a Romanian compressor station and about 1 kilometer from Bulgaria's compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.

Bulgaria said it would strengthen surveillance and redeploy border police anti-drone detection and countermeasure capabilities from the border with Turkiye, to the border with Romania. Ukraine and Bulgaria were in "close contact" to establish the circumstances, he said.

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry has summoned Ukraine's ambassador over the incident, with the two sides set to meet on Monday. The incident would also be raised at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, Bulgaria's Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said.

Military exchanges between Russia and Ukraine continued over the weekend. In Russia's border region of Belgorod, Ukrainian drones killed five people and injured two dozen others, including a 4-year-old boy, in strikes on Sunday, according to the regional administration. Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had shot down 153 Ukrainian drones overnight Saturday into Sunday.

In Ukraine, Russian missiles struck a high-rise apartment block in Kharkiv on Sunday, killing two people and injuring 13, according to regional head Oleh Syniehubov. Eight more people were injured in Odesa after "dozens of missiles and drones" struck the city and surrounding region, according to local administration head Oleh Kiper.

Ukraine's air force said Saturday that it had downed or intercepted 135 of 151 drones launched overnight, along with other missiles.

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