Albanian Language Media: 

• Osmani: US administration approved continuation of MCC for Kosovo (media)
• Commerce Chamber calls on ERO to suspend free energy market decision (media)
• War Veterans reacts to Serbia submitting documents to Special Court (media)
• Haradinaj joins the call to protest against Special Court (media)
• Selimi: Special Chambers approved new ‘evidence’ by Serbian services (media)
• Reactions after KSF photo: Hibrid.info says the photo was authentic (RTK)

Serbian Language Media: 

• EC on the Brussels Agreement: Dacic accuses the EU of deceiving Serbia, but Serbia did not withdraw from the process (KoSSev, N1)
• Mojsilovic, US Armed Forces delegation discuss situation in region (Tanjug, KoSSev, Kosovo Online)
• Another indictment for an attack in front of the municipality of Zvecan (KiM radio, KoSSev, Radio Mitrovica sever)
• Le Figaro on the Popovic case: A new anti-Serb provocation – 30 days in prison for a verbal offense (Kosovo Online)

International Media: 

• Media Censorship in Kosovo at the Behest of Big Business (balcanicausaco.org)
• Teaching Serbia’s Youth About Wartime Sexual Violence is Vital (BIRN)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani: US administration approved continuation of MCC for Kosovo (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said on Wednesday that the Trump administration has approved the continuation of the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) program for Kosovo. “After our excellent meetings in Washington, D.C., where we discussed the vital importance of the MCC Compact for Kosovo, I have now been informed by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau that the Trump Administration has approved the continuation of this program for Kosovo. This milestone strengthens our resilience, deepens our alliance, and creates meaningful opportunities for American businesses in Kosovo. It stands as a clear testament to President Donald Trump’s vision and his Administration’s enduring commitment to strengthening alliances through economic opportunity and shared prosperity,” Osmani wrote in a post on X.

Commerce Chamber calls on ERO to suspend free energy market decision (media)

Kosovo’s Chamber of Commerce has called on the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) to suspend the decision to move businesses to the free energy market after the Commercial Court suspended the decision. “With its latest ruling dated 29 July 2025, the Commercial Court of Kosovo … completely annulled the notification of the Energy Regulatory Office dated 12 March 2025, which notified companies for the mandatory move to the free energy market. The Kosovo Chamber of Commerce assesses that this is an important decision which at the same time confirms the concerns continuously raised by the business community and the Chamber about the unilateral and non-transparent implementation of the process. In the absence of a valid notification and in the absence of a legal basis for enforcement, the Chamber of Commerce calls on the ERO to suspend the decision dated 5 April 2024, which can no longer produce legal effects,” the chamber said in a statement.

War Veterans reacts to Serbia submitting documents to Special Court (media)

The organization of the KLA War Veterans said on Wednesday that there is another reason to protest against the Specialist Chambers after the latter accepted documents that were submitted by the Serbian intelligence service, its interior ministry and other structures. “On more reason to protest! Today, the Special Court accepted as evidence documents submitted by the most notorious institutions of the Serbian state apparatus … This unacceptable action by the court gives credibility to an apparatus that committed crimes in Kosovo. On August 7, at 17:00, we protest against injustice!”

The War Veterans also said that they “will not remain silent while there are attempts for history to be rewritten by the documents of the rapists!”

Haradinaj joins the call to protest against Special Court (media)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj has joined the call for protest by the KLA War Veterans against the Special Court and the proceedings against former KLA leaders. “In support of the protest called by the organizations of the KLA, for their legitimate and righteous demands. We always support the right cause of the war, the rights of combatants and the right of the people. These are the foundations upon which are freedom was built and they will never be shaken,” Haradinaj wrote in a Facebook post.

Selimi: Special Chambers approved new ‘evidence’ by Serbian services (media)

Kosovo’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Petrit Selimi, wrote in a post on X on Wednesday that “the Special Chambers have just approved new ‘evidence’ which was submitted by Serbian security service, Serbian police in the trial against founders of KLA. This is incredibly offensive, outrageous. Serbia IS NOT a reliable source of any ‘evidence’.” He also asked “how and why the Special Chambers accepts as admissible evidence documents produced by a state apparatus determined by the ICTY to have been a Joint Criminal Enterprise. The perpetrator of ethnic cleansing can’t be a credible witness against its opponents”.

Reactions after KSF photo: Hibrid.info says the photo was authentic (RTK)

The news website reported on Wednesday that Hibrid.info, a fact-checking and analysis platform, has ruled out claims by some media which said that the photo showing the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) in the north was manipulated. The platform said that the KSF photo published by the Acting Minister of Defense Ejup Maqedonci was authentic. “The photo from the operation at Ujman Lake Ujman, which is claimed to have been manipulated by Vetevendosje by removing KFOR vehicles to present the operation as exclusively carried out by the KSF, does not appear to be manipulated. Hibrid.info, after conducting visual and digital analyses (through Photo Forensics, ELA analysis, metadata, ChatGPT, and the HiveModeration platform), found no evidence of interference or manipulation in the photo,” a statement by the platform notes.

Serbian Language Media

EC on the Brussels Agreement: Dacic accuses the EU of deceiving Serbia, but Serbia did not withdraw from the process (KoSSev, N1)

Despite Ivica Dacic's accusations that the European Union deceived Serbia by signing the Brussels Agreement, from Brussels told N1 that the country (Serbia) has not withdrawn from the process.

The EU still expects both sides to implement what they promised, adding that this will have a positive impact on Serbia's European integration.

"Both Kosovo and Serbia entered into the agreements fully consciously and of their own free will," they said from Brussels, clearly denying Dacic, reported KoSSev.

"Those agreements remain in force", they say in Brussels and added that the EU "expects both sides to contribute to an atmosphere conducive to reconciliation and normalization with their statements and actions".

Although there is no meeting at the highest level, the European Commission insists that the dialogue has not been interrupted and reminds that the technical negotiators met in June. But they do not mention that that meeting did not lead to any results, like most of the official meetings within the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, as well as unofficial ones, held on the margins of various international gatherings.

"The dialogue continues through regular bilateral and trilateral meetings at the level of the main negotiators and at the technical level," they say in Brussels to N1.

Belgrade and Pristina are to blame for the slowness of the dialogue.

"The EU is ready to host the next round of talks as soon as the parties show readiness, including at the highest level," says the European Commission for N1.

The EC claims that helping Serbia advance towards the EU is one of its priorities. However, they insist that it is Serbia that must implement the reforms necessary to reach European standards and show the results and not let them remain just a "dead letter on paper".

They add that Serbia is ready to continue the negotiation process and open Cluster 3, but that further progress in this depends on further moves by the state, referring to the conclusions of the European Council from December last year.

"The member states (then) indicated that the Council will return to the decision on the opening of this cluster based on the essential additional progress achieved by Serbia, especially in the area of the rule of law and the normalization of relations with Kosovo, in accordance with the negotiation framework, sticking to the evaluations presented in the report on the enlargement from 2024," say the EC for N1 and claimed that "Serbia is working to fulfill the obligations it undertook in that context."

Mojsilovic, US Armed Forces delegation discuss situation in region (Tanjug, KoSSev, Kosovo Online)

Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff Gen Milan Mojsilovic met on Wednesday with US army generals Chris McKinney and Andrew Stone, who are in Serbia for bilateral consultations in the defence sector.

The parties discussed the current situation in the region and Kosovo, as well as the reaches and prospects of cooperation, with focus on planned joint training activities for special forces, the Serbian MoD said in a statement.

They noted that the Serbian Armed Forces' cooperation with the US European Command and the Ohio National Guard was constructive, professional and focused on quality and a clear contribution to bolstering the interoperability and capabilities of the armed forces.

Brig Gen McKinney is deputy director of partnering, security cooperation and weapons of mass destruction at the US European Command, while Brig Gen Stone is commander of the Ohio National Guard Special Troops Command, the statement said.

Another indictment for an attack in front of the municipality of Zvecan (KiM radio, KoSSev, Radio Mitrovica sever)

The Kosovo Special Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against another person, on suspicion of participating in the attack on KFOR members in Zvecan on May 29, 2023. The M.A. is charged with four criminal acts, namely:

"Attack on an official, participation in a group that commits a criminal offense - hooliganism, purchase, possession, distribution and unauthorized sale of narcotics, psychoactive and analogous substances, and unauthorized possession of weapons."

According to the indictment, on May 29, 2023, from 6 a.m. to evening, in the area around the facility of the municipality of Zvecan, this person attacked and seriously threatened the safety of members of the Kosovo Police and members of the KFOR mission - "using solid objects, various rods, Molotov cocktails, improvised explosive devices and firearms."

M.A. is charged with starting "uncontrollable violence" together with the other defendants, despite the orders of KFOR members to disperse peacefully.

"As a result of these acts, which M.A. carried out in coordination with several other defendants, at least 30 members of KFOR were injured, some members of the Kosovo Police received serious injuries, and considerable material damage was caused to official vehicles and the equipment of journalists reporting from the scene."

The Prosecutor's Office submitted a request for the confiscation of firearms and the destruction of confiscated narcotic substances, in accordance with current legal regulations.

At the same time, it was suggested that this man be detained until the end of the court proceedings.

KiM radio recalled that a person with the initials M.A. from Zitkovac was arrested on April 15 this year, precisely in connection with the May clashes in Zvecan. On that occasion, his house was searched, where a certain amount of narcotics was found, as well as crypto-currency mining equipment.

Le Figaro on the Popovic case: A new anti-Serb provocation – 30 days in prison for a verbal offense (Kosovo Online)

The renowned French daily Le Figaro published an article about the arrest of Igor Popovic, assistant director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, stating that France has called for his immediate release. The article raises the question of what exactly Popovic's "crime" is, given that he merely stated facts about crimes committed against Serbs—facts that have been internationally acknowledged as such, reported Kosovo Online.

The article opens with the question: “What are the Albanian authorities in Kosovo aiming for?” followed by a summary of the events leading up to Popovic’s arrest.

“For two weeks now, one of the Serbian negotiators involved in the EU-mediated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina has been rotting in a prison in Gnjilane, a small town in what was once a Serbian province that declared independence in 2008. Igor Popovic was arrested by Kosovo police forces on July 20 in Brnjak, in the northwest of the country, where several thousand Serbs still reside. Shortly after his detention, the investigating judge ordered 30 days of custody. His crime? ‘Incitement to discord and intolerance,’” Figaro writes.

The article then questions the exact nature of the “verbal offense” Popovic is being accused of.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/4dz9up59

International Media 

Media Censorship in Kosovo at the Behest of Big Business (balcanicausaco.org)

With media outlets in Kosovo and the region increasingly concentrated in the hands of major business moguls, journalists say censorship to protect the owners’ interests has become ‘the norm’.

A six-month investigation, involving over thirty sources, most of whom requested to remain anonymous due to consequences they fear they may face. This journalistic piece reveals that with the expansion of the media market in Kosovo, large businesses are increasingly taking control of journalistic work.

Read more at:https://tinyurl.com/2af992xx

Teaching Serbia’s Youth About Wartime Sexual Violence is Vital (BIRN)

The young Serbian participants at a workshop I taught on conflict-related sexual violence during the Yugoslav wars found the topic challenging and distressing – but also vital to counter nationalist narratives.

As an educator with 20 years of experience in teaching courses in transitional justice and navigating “sensitive” topics in the classroom, I know first-hand that discussions about conflict-related sexual violence can elicit unexpected reactions – and, in some cases, re-traumatisation.

The responsibility and ethics of teaching such a subject is huge, and each time I approach this in a new setting I encounter new challenges.

This is particularly true when I teach in the former Yugoslavia, in “my” language, to “my” people, who are often deeply connected, personally or collectively, to the history we are unpacking.

Thirty years after the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 26 years after the end of the war in Kosovo, young people in Serbia had the opportunity last month for the first time to participate in a workshop focused on conflict-related sexual violence.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/4dtd58kf