VUČIĆ: MILITARY EXERCISE "POBEDNIK 2026" DEMONSTRATED SERBIA'S GROWING MILITARY CAPABILITIES

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 13 /SRNA/ – Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated that the "Pobednik 2026" joint tactical live-fire exercise had demonstrated how quickly the Serbian Armed Forces are advancing, giving the exercise the highest possible rating.

"This has shown how much and how quickly we are progressing. We are doing this to preserve peace and stability. It is clear to everyone that we do not seek to threaten anyone. We want peace and stability, and we want to be able to protect and defend our own skies and our own country," Vučić told reporters after the exercise at the Pešter military training ground.

The Serbian president described the exercise as exceptionally complex, noting that the public had, for the first time, been able to see what an attack on an entire settlement using robotic, unmanned ground and aerial vehicles, without the involvement of a single person, would look like.

Asked whether a verdict against former leaders of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army could affect security, not only for Serbs in the southern Serbian province but also for the region as a whole, Vučić said an exchange of letters with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had given him assurances that KFOR would maintain the safety and security of residents in Kosovo and Metohija.

"I do not think that either the Europeans or the Americans want or have any interest in seeing any kind of violence," Vučić said.

He expressed hope that the guarantees he had received countless times regarding the survival of the Serbian people would be respected.

"I really do not know what they will do. Perhaps the better question is: 'What are we to believe if, on Tuesday, we receive a verdict saying that no one is guilty of the deaths of those dozens of civilians named in the indictment?' We must preserve peace and stability, but at least it will then be clear to us what they have been doing to us politically," Vučić said.

A verdict in the case against former leaders of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army is due to be delivered on September 16 by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Seljimi are charged with individual criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.