BBC verifies how Trump stopped the “Kosovo-Serbia conflict”, White House mentions first term, MacMillan: They were not at war
Express newspaper
21/08/2025 8:56
As President Donald Trump tries to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, he has highlighted his record on peace negotiations since the start of his second term.
Speaking at the White House on August 18, where he was asked by European leaders to push for a ceasefire, he claimed: “I have stopped six wars… I have made all these agreements without even mentioning the word ‘ceasefire’ once.”
The next day, the number he mentioned had increased to “seven wars.”
The Trump administration says a Nobel Peace Prize is “long overdue” for the “chief peacemaker” and has listed the “wars” he supposedly stopped.
Some lasted only a few days – although they were the result of long-standing tensions – and it remains unclear whether some of the peace agreements will last.
Trump has also used the word “ceasefire” several times when talking about them on his Truth Social platform.
BBC Verify has taken a closer look at these conflicts and how much credit the president can take for ending them.
After mentioning Israel and Iran, Pakistan and India, Rwanda and Congo, Thailand and Cambodia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Egypt and Ethiopia, the BBC also stopped at Kosovo and Serbia.
On June 27, Trump claimed to have prevented the outbreak of hostilities between them, saying: “Serbia, Kosovo were going against each other, there was going to be a big war. I said, if you go, there’s no trade with the United States. They said, well, maybe we’re not going there.”
The two countries have long been at odds – a legacy of the Balkan wars of the 1990s – with tensions rising in recent years.
“Serbia and Kosovo have not been fighting or shooting at each other, so it is not a war to be ended,” Margaret MacMillan, a professor of history who has taught at the University of Oxford, told the BBC.
The White House has mentioned to the BBC Trump’s diplomatic efforts in his first term.
The two countries signed an economic normalization agreement in the Oval Office with the president in 2020, but were not at war at the time.