These developments were framed through pro-Serbian and pro-Russian narratives by several media outlets and public figures, creating the impression that Albanians\u2019 pro-Ukraine position had changed while denying the legitimate existence of the state of Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From Local Reactions to Russian State Amplification<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Zelenskyy\u2019s statement, followed by the decision to remove the banner in the heart of Prishtina, fuelled a network of social media accounts linked to Russian and Serbian state propaganda, as well as broader forms of nationalism directed particularly against Kosovo and against Albanians in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Russian outlet Sputnik Srbija, which covers developments and events in Serbia,\u00a0re<\/a>ported<\/a>\u00a0the banner\u2019s removal on Telegram, using the wording \u201cthe so-called Kosovo\u201d and linking the decision to Zelenskyy\u2019s visit to Belgrade. However, it omitted the part of Prishtina Mayor P\u00ebrparim Rama\u2019s statement in which he said that empathy and solidarity with peoples facing war and persecution continued. From the wider reaction, it selected only the action that could be interpreted as a withdrawal of support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only 27 minutes later, the Balkan section of Russia Today\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0an almost identical paragraph, with the same sequence of information and the same designation, \u201cthe so-called Kosovo.\u201d It similarly presented the story without placing P\u00ebrparim Rama\u2019s statement in context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An analysis of posts by media outlets and accounts operating mainly on X shows that the story was distorted through three successive shifts: Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s political paraphrase was turned into a quotation that Zelenskyy had never uttered; the Municipality of Prishtina\u2019s decision and the reaction of a group of protesters in Tirana were generalised as the position of Albanians as a whole; and disappointment with Kyiv was used to promote the idea of Albanians drawing closer to Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside the messages disseminated by Russian channels, similar messages were also circulated by Serbian accounts, which now focused on events in the Albanian capital. A video was shared showing a group of protesters from the civic movement, which had been continuing for 77 days, passing in front of the Ukrainian Embassy in Tirana. The protesters, visibly angered, chanted against Zelenskyy, but said nothing about Ukraine itself or about support for Russia in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Profiles on X, such as that of Vladimir Stevanovi\u0107,\u00a0reposted<\/a>\u00a0the video while adding misleading elements and framing it in a way that suited a pro-Russian narrative\u2014as though Albanians were turning against Ukraine and in favour of Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlbanians from Albania and Kosovo are shouting in front of the Ukrainian Embassy in Tirana: \u2018Zelensky, Zelensky, … [offensive words quoted in English],\u2019 while chants in support of Russia and Putin can also be heard,\u201d he wrote, although no such chants could be heard in the videos shared by protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the statement<\/a> by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, which supported both Ukraine and Kosovo while calling for normalisation and mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia, became the target of ethnonationalist and stigmatising language. Some posts labelled Albanians \u201cseparatists\u201d and \u201cdrug and organ traffickers,\u201d without providing evidence, while describing Kosovo as \u201coccupied territory.\u201d Marinko U\u010dur, presented as a journalist based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, \u201ctranslated\u201d the statement through a response directed against the very existence of the state of Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlbanians are still dreaming wet separatist dreams! Do they really think that, even in their madness, anyone would ever recognise the occupation of 14% of their territory in order to enable the creation of another Albanian state in the Balkans?\u201d he\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0above the post by the Albanian Foreign Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSerbia does not need any recognition from Albanian separatists and drug and organ traffickers. It will not happen! UN Resolution 1244 is still in force!\u201d concluded Marinko U\u010dur, a journalist from Banja Luka and commentator on political affairs in Republika Srpska, who is known for his pronounced Serbian nationalist perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Narrative of Disappointment with Ukraine Was Converted into Support for Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Criticism of Kyiv began as a reaction to its non-recognition of Kosovo, but within part of the Albanian-speaking information space it gradually changed direction. The debate shifted from demands for reciprocity from Ukraine to the claim that Albanians should reconsider their position on the war and draw closer to Russia. In this way, Kosovo\u2019s diplomatic position was used to question support for Ukraine and to normalise pro-Russian messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet\u2019s go Russia, a little harder,\u201d read the caption of a video\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0by the profile \u201cMATEAN\u201d on TikTok on August 8. The video displayed the texts: \u201cThe clown Zelensky visits Serbia, Russia\u2019s greatest ally. The clown reconfirmed that Ukraine supports the genocidal state of Serbia against Kosovo\u2019s independence,\u201d and \u201cMeanwhile, Kosovo is one of Ukraine\u2019s biggest supporters in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the time of monitoring, the video had reached almost 210,000 views, 7,089 likes, 843 comments and 953 shares. The profile had around 25,000 followers and 3.3 million cumulative likes across its content. Among the comments receiving high engagement were accounts writing \u201cNow I support Russia\u201d and \u201cFree Russia,\u201d as well as calls to remove Ukrainian flags and expel Ukrainian citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One day later, a similar narrative appeared in an even more direct form within the Albanian-speaking space on X, while targeting an international audience through English-language descriptions. The profile called \u201cKruja Chronicles\u201d wrote<\/a>that Albanians should \u201cswitch sides and fight for Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The comment was accompanied by the resharing of a photograph published on March 10, 2026, showing several armed individuals in military uniforms holding the Albanian flag. The photograph was presented with the description: \u201cPhoto of individuals from Albania who are reportedly serving in Ukraine\u2019s Territorial Defence Forces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Continuing this narrative, another post<\/a> drew a parallel between Kosovo and the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. It argued that because the West had supported Kosovo\u2019s right to self-determination, the same principle should be applied to the Russian population in these regions. According to this reasoning, residents who identify as Russian and do not want to be governed by Ukraine should have the right to self-government or unification with Russia, while the opposing position was presented as the use of double standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After this year\u2019s Orthodox Easter, Alexander Dugin shared a post by the same profile showing the Orthodox community at the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral in Tirana. Dugin added the\u00a0description<\/a>: \u201cAlbania was once a Christian country. Modern Albania was founded by the Orthodox priest Fan Noli.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is known as an\u00a0ideologue<\/a>\u00a0of modern anti-Albanianism and represents the ideological wing of Russian imperialism-an ultranationalist, anti-liberal and expansionist project that views Russia as the centre of a Eurasian empire and denies the full sovereignty of countries Moscow considers part of its sphere of influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The thrust of the posts on social media, particularly on X, rested on equating Kosovo, an already independent state, with the Ukrainian regions of Donbas and Crimea. But this analogy disregards their different contexts: Kosovo went through war, NATO intervention and international administration, whereas Crimea and parts of Donbas are internationally recognised as parts of Ukraine that have been occupied or annexed by Russia. Zelenskyy\u2019s statement was therefore used to construct a false equivalence and turn Ukraine\u2019s non-recognition of Kosovo into an argument in support of Russian aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s Phrase Attributed to Zelenskyy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the principal distortions of Zelenskyy\u2019s statement occurred when his wording about Ukraine\u2019s unchanged position of non-recognition of Kosovo was replaced with the sentence \u201cKosovo is Serbia.\u201d The difference is not merely linguistic: the Ukrainian president reaffirmed Kyiv\u2019s longstanding policy, while the second formulation directly asserts Serbia\u2019s position on Kosovo\u2019s status, rather than Ukraine\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\u00a0phrase<\/a>\u00a0was used on August 9 by Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107, who, while commenting on the reactions in Prishtina, said that Zelenskyy had come to Belgrade and, according to his interpretation, had said, \u201cYes, Kosovo is Serbia.\u201d Although those words do not appear in the Ukrainian president\u2019s\u00a0statement<\/a>, they were Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s political paraphrase of Kyiv\u2019s position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the media outlets that detached this paraphrase from Vu\u010di\u0107 and attributed it to Zelenskyy was Borba.me, which is based in Montenegro and publishes markedly pro-Serbian and pro-Russian content. In its\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0on disinformation in Montenegro during 2024, the regional fact-checking network SEE Check listed it among the main websites spreading pro-Russian and anti-European Union narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On August 9, the online outlet\u00a0used<\/a>\u00a0a headline claiming that Albanians in Kosovo had removed the Ukrainian flag after Zelenskyy \u201csaid that Kosovo is Serbia.\u201d Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s paraphrase was thus presented in the headline as a statement by the Ukrainian president, even though the article itself did not support that attribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Serbia, the pro-government outlet Informer TV\u00a0posted<\/a>\u00a0Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s video on TikTok and presented \u201cZelenskyy\u2019s message that Kosovo is Serbia\u201d as an excellent outcome of his visit to Belgrade. The video received at least 1,637 likes, 269 comments and 225 shares. Meanwhile, the Serbian organisation CRTA has\u00a0listed<\/a>\u00a0Informer among the media outlets that frequently publish manipulative news. The reach of these posts centred on the interpretation used by Vu\u010di\u0107, which was then presented as a direct quotation from Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Pamje](\"https:\/\/amfora.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Pamje-e-postimeve-te-profilit-Kruja-Chronicles-ne-X-1024x819.png\")
![\"Pamje](\"https:\/\/amfora.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Pamje-e-postimeve-te-profilit-Kruja-Chronicles-ne-X-1-1024x819.png\")