Kosovo Opens new Controversial Bridge in Divided Mitrovica

Kosovo authorities opened a new river bridge in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, a move seen by Serbia as a political stunt that "undermines peace".

Xhorxhina Bami and Florinda Kelmendi, August 26, 2025

The new bridge for vehicles connecting South Mitrovica and North Mitrovica, a few meters from the main bridge in the city, which is closed to traffic. Photo: BIRN.

Just a few meters from the bridge that divides South and North Mitrovica, across which cars are not allowed to pass, the Kosovo government opened a new bridge on Tuesday, despite objections from local ethnic Serbs and warnings from the international community.

Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Facebook on Tuesday morning that “less than two months were needed to construct the 36th bridge in Kosovo over the Iber river. The bridge is open for vehicles as of today from 9am”.

Kurti also announced that work on a new pedestrian bridge nearby will be finished by the autumn.

The Serbian authorities view the opening of more bridge crossings as a security threat, believing it will encourage more ethnic Albanians to settle in the Serb-majority north of Mitrovica. Kosovo’s Western allies fear that such moves, if not agreed by all sides, will raise tensions.

In June the EU tested the load capacity of the main bridge in the town, which is currently not open to car crossings. At the time, the EU’s office in Pristina urged Kurti to refrain from making unilateral moves.

“The EU is closely coordinating with its international partners in Kosovo regarding the future of the bridge,” the office told BIRN. “In the meantime, we call on the Kosovo authorities to refrain from any uncoordinated actions, including the construction of adjacent bridges. All agreements of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue [process], including those related to the bridge, must be fully implemented,” it added.

In July, Kosovo Serbs gathered in front of the office of the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party in North Mitrovica to sign a petition against the construction of the two new bridges which connect the northern Serb-majority part of Mitrovica with the southern Albanian-majority part. 

On Tuesday the deputy director of the Kosovo police for the north of the country, Veton Elshani, urged the public to be “careful and not incite hatred” over the bridge issue. 

“There is no need to come here and be provocative, we have sent the same message in the north so they do not worry, because we are here for everyone’s safety,” Elshani said, emphasising that it was simply “a bridge for the movement of vehicles and people”, rather than being any kind of symbolic act.

But Petar Petkovic, the head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, wrote on X that “the unlawful opening of Kurti’s bridge is a new escalatory move that directly undermines peace” in the north of Kosovo.

“The opening of the bridge tramples on the dialogue agreements and represents a slap in the face to the EU,” said Petkovic.

He alleged Kurti “chose to open the bridge today” because it was timed during the visit to Belgrade of Peter Sorensen, the EU special envoy for the Kosovo Serbia dialogue. Petkovic described the move as “a brutal destruction of the [Kosovo-Serbia] dialogue”.

Copyright BIRN 2007