European powers are to be urged to unite behind Kosovo when it declares independence in the coming weeks or months by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, who flies to Brussels today.

The meeting comes as an attempt by the UN to broker a settlement between Serbia and its breakaway province ended in failure after two years of bitter negotiations. The refusal by Serbia to give up sovereignty of Kosovo is backed by Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which has vowed to veto any resolution leading to independence. Kosovo’s leaders have said that they will declare independence provided that they have the backing of the European Union and the United States.

The US, which with Britain, France, Italy and Germany made up most of the Nato force that ended Belgrade’s war against the Kosovan Albanians, has promised to recognise the new state. Kosovo has been administered by the UN since the end of the war in 1999, with security provided by Nato peacekeepers. Nato has pledged to keep its troops in Kosovo indefinitely, but a UN administration would end with a unilateral declaration of independence, leaving a gap that Kosovo is counting on Europe to fill.

Kosovo presents one of the greatest challenges yet to common European policy. Deploying an EU mission to replace the UN administration in Kosovo would require agreement from all member states. Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia and Spain, however, are all wary of fallout with their own separatist movements. European foreign ministers will meet today to hear Mr Miliband’s pleas for European leadership and unity over the problem.

Kosovo’s Albanian majority are growing impatient for independence, which they believe has been their right since Nato removed Serbian troops. They also hope independence will help to revive their moribund economy by ending the limbo that has kept foreign investment away.

But neither the peace deal nor the UN resolution that came after it made explicit that independence would follow. And granting independence could spark the threat of Serb secession from Kosovo and Bosnia.

Russia has seized on this fact, blaming the US and the EU for stoking Kosovo’s ambitions for independence. “Anybody who goes in contravention of this is on a very slippery downward slope,” said Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, who will join the ministers in Brussels. “It won’t help the stability of Europe.”

Kosovan Albanians are enthusiastic fans of their so-called Western liberators but have grown impatient of being ruled by what they call the “white 4x4 gang”.

Serbs living in enclaves, meanwhile, fear what independence will mean for them. Frustrations spilt over in the village of Gorazdevac, when Serbs attacked Nato forces on a courtesy call, shouting: “This is Serbia!” The EU is counting on Serbia’s desire to join the union to keep it from resorting to violence to hold on to the province – and on Kosovo’s ambition to keep it from acting without consultation.

Times Recommends

• UN may halt 400-year-old 'freedom of the seas'
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone
• Gas deal on hold, but Ukraine may pay in the end