Kosovo Drone Delivery Sparks Tirade Against Turkey from Serbia’s Vucic

Kosovo trucks transport the Turkish drones after arrival at the airport in Pristina. Photo: Facebook/Albin Kurti. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic issued an angry statement criticising Turkey on Wednesday evening after Kosovo received a shipment of fighter drones purchased from Turkey’s Baykar Company. Vucic wrote on X that he was “appalled” by Turkey’s behaviour and what he labelled as “and brutal violation of the UN Charter and UN Security Council Resolution 1244”, which ended the NATO intervention and marked Serbian withdrawal from its former province Kosovo after the war ended in 1999.  “It is now completely clear that Turkiye does not want stability in the Western Balkans and is once again dreaming of restoring the Ottoman Empire. Serbia is a small country, but we understand their real intentions,” Vucic wrote. Turkey, a major international vendor of drones, did not officially react to these claims. However it has previously had warm relations with Serbia and with Vucic himself. Vucic’s vociferous reaction to the drones’ delivery came amid the biggest political and societal crisis that his ruling Serbian Progressive Party has faced since coming to power in 2012, with mass student-led anti-government protests continuing for 11 months. He also faces economic challenges; United States sanctions against the Serbian Oil Industry company, owned by the state and Russian companies, came into force on Wednesday morning.  Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti personally welcomed the containers with Skydagger kamikaze fighter drones in Pristina on Wednesday, saying that “the contract was signed in December last year with the well-known Turkish Baykar Company, which is the parent company of Skydagger manufacturer”. “The Skydagger drones were scheduled to arrive in January 2026, but we got them three months early,” Kurti wrote on Facebook. He did not specify the exact number of drones, only saying that “thousands” were delivered. “These kamikaze drones also known as RTF (Ready to Fly) Skydagger FpV type are combat drones equipped with explosive equipment intended to strike enemy moving and static targets,” Kurti said. He added that with previous purchases of drones, Kosovo is “continuing to build and add to our military’s striking power in order to build a capable and coherent force with new technological developments and contemporary combat tactics”. The Serbian Defence Ministry said that the Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, Milan Mojsilovic, spoke to the commander of NATO’s Kosovo peacekeeping force, KFOR, to protest over the “continued arming of the so-called Kosovo Security Force”. KFOR has been operating in Kosovo since June 1999, after NATO airstrikes forced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw Serbian police and troops from Kosovo. The Serbian Defence Ministry said that Mojsilovic told KFOR Commander Ozkan Ulutas, who is from Turkey, that “in line with international law, the UN resolution, and all other signed agreements, the Republic of Serbia regards KFOR as the sole legitimate armed formation operating in Kosovo and Metohija”. Founded in 2009, after Kosovo declared independence, the Kosovo Security Force’s original mandate was to conduct crisis response operations in Kosovo and abroad, civil protection operations within Kosovo, and assist in dealing with natural disasters. Kosovo’s governments have long been trying to transform it into a regular army.  Serbian president, who often hails Serbia’s own arms-buying sprees, also expressed discontent in January 2024 when it was confirmed that the United States approved Kosovo’s request for anti-tank missiles, calling it “a big disappointment for Serbia”.