Zagreb.- In the 24 hours between Friday and Saturday morning, 13 people died in Ukraine and 77 were injured in Russian drone and ballistic missile attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported this Saturday during a visit to Belgrade.
In a press conference alongside the Serbian president, the nationalist populist Aleksandar Vucic, the Ukrainian leader specified that twelve regions were attacked by the Russian Army.
“Almost daily, every night, now in the fifth year of the war, Ukraine is forced to persevere and endure this,” said Zelensky, who is making his first visit to Serbia, a country close to Russia that has not joined European sanctions against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian president, most Russian attacks are directed against facilities vital to the lives of civilians.
Zelensky, more financial support for Ukraine
“We don’t have a single power plant that hasn’t been attacked. Railway stations, hospitals, universities, public companies,” he said.
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In that sense, Zelensky asked for more financial support from his Western allies, more anti-ballistic capabilities, and new sanctions that prevent Russia from producing missiles.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian leader thanked Vucic for the humanitarian aid that Serbia provides to Ukraine and for the support in maintaining its territorial integrity.
Serbia and Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding on agriculture and a memorandum of cooperation in the field of animal health and food safety in Belgrade today.
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Trade exchange with Serbia
Vucic, for his part, highlighted that Serbia and Ukraine have considerably increased the level of their trade exchange.
“Last year, the figure was around 450 million US dollars. In just the first six months of this year, the figure is already significantly higher: 321 million dollars,” the Serbian leader asserted.
Zelensky’s visit to Serbia comes a few weeks after a summit between Ukraine and the Balkan countries in Kyiv, where Vucic was the only leader who did not sign the final joint declaration of the meeting.
Asked by the press today, the Serbian president rejected reports about alleged exports of military equipment and ammunition from Serbia to Ukraine.
As Vucic explained, the conversations with Zelensky last night and today in Belgrade focused on bilateral and trade issues, and on both countries’ path toward the EU.
In any case, he was pessimistic that the EU will achieve unity to welcome new members soon, since, as he said, without giving further details, “there are always some members who oppose it.”
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For that reason, the president added, “Serbia is focusing on economic development and free trade agreements” with EU countries.
Since Vucic came to power in 2014, Serbia has stalled on its European path, both due to a lack of geopolitical alignment and because of democratic backsliding and the degradation of the rule of law.
