The football club from Kyiv, Dinamo, has decided that the young footballers from their academy will not have training sessions in Serbia over the summer at the expense of official Belgrade, Radio Free Europe (RSE) reports.
Previously, the Government of Serbia approved funds for the organization of a sports-rehabilitation camp for the youth and children's teams of the Dinamo Football Academy from Kyiv.
On July 18, this club announced that they had the option for their young players to train over the summer in Serbia, but that they refused for a number of understandable reasons.
As one of them, they mentioned the participation of the Serbian club Crvena zvezda in the tournament in Russia.
"While our country is at war, the principle of 'sport outside of politics' does not work," stated the statement on the club's website.
The footballers of the Belgrade club Crvena Zvezda played two friendly matches with the Russian Zenit in Russia during 2022.
Also, at the end of July 2022, Russian Zenit registered a representative office in Serbia at the address of Crvena zvezda.
The football club Crvena zvezda did not advertise regarding the allegations against Dinamo Kyiv. The club was not available for RSE's immediate response.
In the meantime, Ukrainian Pravda announced on July 18, citing diplomatic sources and a letter dated July 10, that Dinamo itself wanted to train in Serbia, but later changed its mind.
Along with the facsimile of the letter, "Pravda" announced that on July 10, Dinamo addressed the Embassy of Ukraine in Serbia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
At that time, Dinamo stated the dates in which the young footballers would stay in Serbia.
In that letter, the club also stated that it hopes that the time spent in the "brotherly country" will help the children to forget about the horrors of war and to prepare for future competitions.
Until the conclusion of this text, Dinamo did not respond to RFE's inquiry about the other reasons for their refusal to come to Serbia, in addition to the aforementioned, playing Red Star in Russia.
Also, neither the Government of Serbia nor the Ministry of Sports responded to a request for comment on the decision of Dinamo Kyiv.
Embassy of Ukraine: We understand Dinamo's position, we hope that this is not the end of the story
On the other hand, the Embassy of Ukraine in Serbia told RSE that it understands and respects the position of football club Dinamo.
In the Embassy's response, it was stated that these are children "who have been under Russian bombs and shelling for a long time", as well as their parents.
"Unfortunately, war sets unambiguous and often unfair criteria of 'own-other'. If Crvena Zvezda played with Russian Zenit in a friendly tournament, in the opinion of teenagers and fans, they are friends. Therefore, we are enemies," stated the embassy's response.
At the Embassy, however, they believe that this is not the end of the story and that there are other youth football schools in Ukraine that do not have the opportunity to fully train.
"After the rather unexpected announcement by Dinamo Kyiv, we received numerous requests that we are working on," it was stated.
The Government of Serbia is also sending aid to the Kherson region
The Embassy of Ukraine, while thanking the Government of Serbia, stated that it noticed a tendency for Serbia to become increasingly involved in providing support to Ukraine and its citizens.
"We hope that this tendency will only increase in the future. As well as the feeling of a common future in one European family," added in the answer to RSE.
In addition to the organization of the summer camp for Dinamo's young football players, the Government of Serbia approved a new tranche of aid for overcoming the humanitarian disaster in the Kherson region by decision of July 15.
This assistance includes the donation of goods and medicines.
The Government of Serbia also approved temporary protection for the reception of citizens of Ukraine affected by the situation in the Kherson region.
Kherson Oblast, in southern Ukraine, is partially occupied by Russia and claims to have annexed it, along with Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporozhye.
The Embassy of Ukraine told RSE that the humanitarian aid provided by Serbia is important for Ukraine.
"For us, this, in addition to the practical side, is an act of support for our fight against a dangerous aggressor and the preservation of territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders," the response stated.
When asked whether the arrival of citizens of Ukraine from the Kherson region to Serbia is planned, the Embassy of Ukraine stated that this issue is currently being worked on.
According to them, they are expecting everyone who wants to, not only from the Kherson region, who need temporary protection and assistance that will be guaranteed by the Government of Serbia.
"This is a chance to provide decent housing for children and women while their husbands defend our country," it said.
The embassy stated that they still face difficulties because "it is difficult to make a decision and leave your home".
Proposal for treatment of Ukrainian wounded
In the meantime, another proposal has arrived to help Ukraine, which is to treat wounded Ukrainians in medical facilities in Serbia.
Such a proposal was sent to the Government of Serbia at the beginning of July by Dragan Milić, director of the Clinic for Cardiac Surgery in Niš, a city in the south of Serbia.
He announced this after a meeting with Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Tolkach.
"We suggest that our Government consider the possibility of treating injured Ukrainian civilians in Serbian rehabilitation centers," Milić said on Twitter.
He also said that they launched an initiative to establish cooperation between Niš and cardiovascular clinics in Ukraine.
Doctor Milić told RSE that it was "an initiative to treat Ukrainians who died in this terrible war".
As he explained, it is not an initiative for the treatment of only Ukrainian soldiers, but for the treatment of injured Ukrainians in the war, which means that civilians who also suffer are not excluded.
He said that it is up to the state to assess whether the initiative to rehabilitate the Ukrainian wounded is good and to what extent it can be implemented.
"I think it is and that it is a symbolic way of helping people and the people who are suffering greatly in this unnecessary and terrible war," said Milić.
Asked about Serbia's capacity to receive Ukrainian wounded, Milić said that no one expects thousands of wounded to come to Serbia.
"The most important thing is that we showed care and solidarity with the Ukrainian people. That is more important than the figure of how many people would be treated with us, whether 20, 30, 50 or 100..." Milić stated.
He added that the Military Medical Academy and other institutions have experience in treating war injuries and that this experience can be applied in helping the injured in Ukraine.
The Government of Serbia did not respond to RSE's inquiry as to its position regarding the proposal to treat Ukrainian wounded in Serbia.
Earlier, on June 3, in a conversation with refugees from Ukraine at the Asylum Center in Vranje, in the south of Serbia, the President of Serbia said that the country is ready to help in everything they think they need.
"Everything we can offer, our capacities for treatment, for people's health, for the wounded, we are ready to help," said Vučić at the time.
The Embassy of Ukraine told RFE/RL that they hope that the initiative on the treatment of Ukrainian wounded can be implemented soon "in the interest of our citizens who need to go through the process of treatment and rehabilitation."
"This is not just treatment, it is support for our fight for freedom and independence," the response stated.
What else did Serbia grant to Ukraine?
The Government of Serbia awarded humanitarian aid to Ukraine on several occasions.
Thus, in March, a truck with electrical equipment was sent to Ukraine through the European Union's Mechanism for Civil Protection.
At that time, the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, announced that Serbia will continue to continuously provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine to the extent possible.
In June 2022, the Government of Serbia allocated monetary humanitarian aid in the amount of three million euros for children and refugees in Ukraine.
Also, on the initiative of the wife of the President of Serbia, Tamara Vučić, two ambulances were donated to Ukraine in December 2022.
According to the Prime Minister, a Summer School for the recovery of Ukrainian children was also organized in Banja Koviljača, a spa resort in the west of Serbia.
Due to the war in Ukraine, Serbia also activated the Temporary Protection Mechanism for displaced persons coming from that country for the first time.
This enabled them to find employment, education, social and health care.
The Ambassador of Ukraine to Serbia, Vladimir Tolkach, said in April that the humanitarian and financial aid that Ukraine receives from Serbia is very significant, but that Ukraine needs much more.
"Today, the issue of supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine is important, which at this moment requires not only humanitarian aid, but also the provision of weapons and ammunition," said Tolkac at a press conference dedicated to Ukrainian-Serbian relations. After the beginning of the invasion in February 2022, the authorities in Serbia decided that Serbia would not export weapons to any side in the conflict, nor allow the transport of weapons through its territory.
The Reuters agency announced on April 12, citing a confidential Pentagon document, that Serbia has agreed to deliver weapons to Kiev or has already sent them.
Officials in Serbia denied such allegations in their statements then, and even before that.
Serbia still does not impose sanctions on Russia
Serbia sends humanitarian aid to Ukraine and supports its territorial integrity.
It also supported several United Nations resolutions condemning the aggression against Ukraine.
However, at the same time, it is a rare country in Europe that has refused to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Igor Novaković, from the non-governmental ISAC fund, told RFE/RL that providing aid to Ukraine is a humanitarian move that has its own logic and does not have political goals that the Government of Serbia would eventually like to achieve.
But, as he added, it is also very useful to demonstrate to Western partners.
"That, as the authorities claim, Serbia's position is based on a principled position that is related to the issue of Kosovo and some other issues, and not to mere balancing between the parties," stated Novaković.
Serbia is counting on Russia's support in international organizations around Kosovo, its former province whose independence it does not recognize.
Novaković assessed that it is obvious that Serbia is in a position to maintain its existing position regarding the non-imposition of sanctions against Russia and that this is, in a way, tolerated by the West.
"But if our goal is European integration, then at some point in the future you will undoubtedly be in trouble," Novaković assessed.
He added that the issue of introducing sanctions is a matter of principle that concerns the European future of Serbia and that it should be read in that context.
European and American officials have repeatedly called on Serbia to join Western sanctions against Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.
Bonus video:
