Pristina city hall has removed the large Ukrainian flag that hung for four years on a building in the centre of the Kosovan capital, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated in Belgrade that Kyiv would not recognise Kosovo’s independence.
The banner, carrying the slogan “Free Ukraine”, was taken down from the facade of the Grand Hotel on August 9. City mayor Përparim Rama posted footage of its removal on social media.
Rama said the capital always answered in the same way when Kosovo was not respected. He added that no cause could be built on disregard for Kosovo’s statehood.
Zelensky had made his first official visit to Serbia the previous day, meeting President Aleksandar Vučić at the Palace of Serbia. Asked about Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, he said Ukraine’s position was unchanged and that Kyiv respected the territorial integrity of its partners.
Ukraine has never recognised Kosovo. Kyiv’s reluctance is bound up with Crimea, as Moscow has repeatedly cited Kosovo as a precedent for its own annexations.
Kosovo’s acting foreign minister Glauk Konjufca wrote on X that he took note “with regret” of the remarks. He listed Kosovo’s sanctions on Russia and Belarus, its alignment with EU foreign and security policy and its humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine.
Konjufca said Kosovo remained firm in its support for Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also asked Kyiv to reconsider, arguing that recognition would strengthen the principles Ukraine was itself defending.
Albania’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs had responded earlier the same day, calling any parallel drawn between Kosovo and other international disputes “wrong, opportunistic and profoundly misleading”.
Tirana said a peaceful and European Western Balkans required acceptance that Kosovo’s independence was irreversible. It added that it stood equally firmly behind Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Petar Petković, who heads the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo, said Belgrade upheld international law while Pristina pulled down the banner the moment its demands went unmet. He said the difference was one of principle rather than sentiment.
The row has arrived while Kosovo is without a functioning parliament. Members elected on June 7 took their oath on August 6, though acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti asked for more time before naming a candidate for speaker.
The constitutional deadline to constitute the Assembly expired the following day, leaving Kurti’s Vetëvendosje still short of the 61 votes needed to govern. Kosovo has held three general elections in under two years.
Five EU member states still refuse to recognise Kosovo, leaving its path towards the bloc the hardest in the Western Balkans. In July the EU appointed a German diplomat as its special representative for the country.
