Serbia and Ukraine – Challenges of War

It has been over a year since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, and there are no signs that the war is ending. There is an agreement worldwide that nothing will be the same in Europe and globally after this war. Serbia and the Western Balkans region are not isolated from this strategic reality. The war in Ukraine will largely determine the fate of European security architecture and, by extension, the place of Serbia and the Western Balkans within that architecture. As such, it is important now more than ever to be informed about the latest developments on the battlefield and to discuss how will these potential developments impact European security, the Western Balkans and Serbia. The voices of Ukrainian experts need to be heard particularly carefully since these are the observers at the frontline of the monumental geopolitical transformation being discussed. Additionally, the discussion will tackle Serbo-Ukrainian relations since both Serbian and the international public focus exclusively on Serbo-Russian relations and the war’s impact on this relationship.

The event will focus on the current development on the battlefield and what can be expected from this war in the coming period; the position of Ukraine and the Western Balkans in the European security architecture after the end of the war; and, to add a historical perspective to the discussion, the panel will also focus on Ukraine’s policy towards Serbia since 1991.

Agenda

2:00 – 2:05 Welcome remarks

• Igor Bandović, Director, Belgrade Centre for Security Policy

2:05 – 3:00 Panel discussion

• Kateryna Shymkevych, visiting fellow at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) and a lecturer at the Zaporizhzhia Institute of Economics and Informational Technologies
• Mykhailo Samus, Deputy Director, Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies and the Director of the New Geopolitics Research Network
• Igor Fedyk, Head of the Balkan section of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies
• Vuk Vuksanović, Senior Researcher, Belgrade Centre for Security Policy

 

Moderator: Helena Ivanov, Associate Research Fellow, Henry Jackson Society

 

3:00 – 3:30 Q & A

 

The working language of the discussion is English, but a translation to Serbian will be provided.

If you would like to take part in this event offline or online, please register here.

 

The project is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy. The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy is solely responsible for the content of the publication and discussion.