Commemorative events marking Vukovar 1991 Remembrance Day and the 27th anniversary of the destruction of that eastern Croatian city in the 1991-95 war of independence started on Saturday with a commemoration outside the city hospital where 3,500 wounded people had been treated during the siege of the city.

Attendees of the event arrived from all over Croatia and abroad, including top state officials, with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and other government officials, members of Parliament, and representatives of the diplomatic corps, the Catholic Church and other religious communities, as well as numerous war veteran and victim associations and political parties.

“We came here today primarily to pay our respects to Vukovar, its residents and express our gratitude for everything they have done for Croatia. We are remembering victims, the defenders and civilians who died, were killed or went missing. This was a great tragedy,” said Jandrokovic.

He also said that the message from Vukovar to the Croatian people and the whole world is that the war is the worst way to resolve conflicts and that solution must be sought in a peaceful fashion, through negotiations, taking into account the dignity of every people

Vukovar Remembrance Day is observed in memory of 18 November 1991 when the city’s defence lines were broken after a three-month siege by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and Serb paramilitaries. The besieged city was defended by around 1,800 members of the National Guard Corps, police and volunteers of the self-organised Croatian Defence Force (HOS), organised into the 204th Croatian Army Brigade.

After the ravaged city fell into the hands of the JNA and Serb paramilitaries, around 22,000 local Croats and members of other ethnic groups were expelled and several thousand Croatian soldiers and civilians were taken to Serb-run prison camps.

We are still intensively searching for the missing, and we will continue to search for them, our efforts are aimed at finding every missing person, Minister of Veterans Tomo Medved told the press when asked about the fate of more than 300 missing persons.

As for communication with Serbia regarding that issue, Medved said Croatia was doing everything to be a responsible partner. “We are doing this by insisting on a professional and responsible cooperation and this is what we will continue to do,” the minister said.

Numerous crimes were committed against the defence forces and civilians, including a massacre of 200 soldiers and civilians from the Vukovar Hospital who were taken from the hospital on November 19 and killed at a former farm at Ovcara, outside the city, and buried in a mass grave.

According to data from the Vukovar Hospital, 1,624 Croatian soldiers and civilians were killed and 1,219 were wounded during the siege of the city. Around 3,600 Croatian soldiers and civilians were killed in the aggression on and subsequent occupation of the city.

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