Kosovo stood with Ukraine, Zelensky’s words in Belgrade were a painful betrayal - opinion

For Kosovars, Ukraine’s suffering was not something distant or abstract. We know what it means to watch civilians flee their homes. We know what it means to see families uprooted, communities terrorized, and a more powerful neighbor using military force while claiming the territory of another people.

We know what it means to depend on the democratic world to act when diplomacy has failed.

That history is one reason Kosovo embraced Ukraine so strongly.

In the center of Pristina, an enormous Ukrainian flag bearing the words “Free Ukraine” became a visible expression of solidarity. Kosovo joined Western sanctions against Russia, welcomed Ukrainian journalists, and consistently aligned itself with Ukraine and its Western allies.

This support was remarkable considering one uncomfortable reality: Ukraine does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state.

Kosovars supported Ukraine anyway.

Standing beside Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Zelensky reiterated Ukraine’s position on Serbia’s territorial integrity, effectively maintaining Kyiv’s refusal to recognize Kosovo’s independence.

Ukraine’s position itself is not new. But diplomacy is also about context, symbolism, and place. Hearing those words emphasized in Belgrade carries a very different weight for Kosovars.

Ukraine understandably considers territorial integrity fundamental to its national survival. Russia has invaded Ukraine, occupied its territory, and attempted to annex Ukrainian regions. Kyiv fears anything that Moscow could manipulate as a precedent for its own territorial ambitions.

But Kosovo is not Crimea. Kosovo is not Donetsk. And Kosovo’s independence cannot reasonably be equated with Russia invading a neighboring sovereign country and annexing its territory.

Kosovo’s path to independence came after years of systematic repression of Kosovo Albanians under Slobodan Milosevic’s regime, followed by war, mass killings, forced displacement, widespread atrocities, and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians from their homes.

These crimes and the escalating humanitarian catastrophe ultimately prompted NATO’s 1999 intervention. Kosovo then spent nearly a decade under United Nations administration before declaring independence in 2008.

There is also a painful geopolitical contradiction that Kosovo people cannot ignore.

Serbia has maintained historically close political, cultural and strategic relations with Russia. Moscow has been one of Belgrade’s most important international supporters on Kosovo, using its position at the United Nations Security Council to oppose Kosovo’s international recognition.

Serbia, unlike most European countries, has also resisted joining Western sanctions against Russia.

Kosovo, meanwhile, chose Ukraine.

We did so not because Ukraine recognized us – it did not – but because many Kosovars believed that opposing Russia’s aggression was morally right.

Support for Ukraine should never have been transactional. Ukrainians defending their homes from Russian aggression deserve solidarity regardless of their government’s position on Kosovo. I would never suggest that Kosovars should abandon the Ukrainian people because of Zelensky’s diplomatic choices.

But solidarity does not require silence.

President Zelensky, perhaps more than almost any contemporary European leader, understands the importance of historical memory. He has spent years asking the international community to understand that sovereignty cannot be discussed in isolation from aggression, occupation, atrocities, and the right of people to live in freedom and security.

Of course, Zelensky has strategic reasons for cultivating Serbia. Ukraine wants to prevent Belgrade from moving further into Moscow’s orbit. It wants broader diplomatic support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and closer cooperation with Serbia.

In the brutal calculations of international politics, Kyiv may conclude that maintaining its position on Kosovo serves its national interests.

But Kosovars are also entitled to evaluate those calculations.

Small nations are often told that geopolitics requires patience, compromise, and an understanding of the interests of larger states. Kosovo has heard those arguments for decades. Yet principles become meaningful precisely when applying them is politically inconvenient.

Kosovo should therefore continue supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and the Ukrainian people’s right to live free from Russian aggression. Doing so demonstrates that our principles are not conditional upon diplomatic recognition.

Kosovo stood with Ukraine when doing so brought it virtually nothing diplomatic in return.

We did it because we remembered our own past.