Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said on Thursday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was absolutely unacceptable and that Croatia stood ready to receive Ukrainian refugees and give them everything they need.

Speaking on the Croatian public broadcaster, he said today’s invasion and aggression were unprovoked and that the responsibility lay solely on Russia.

As for Croatia’s decision to try and help Ukraine technically and with relief, Bozinovic said it was a tranche of emergency aid to be sent in the wake of requests for civil protection medical material.

We are also considering our expertise in demining. We are talking about it all the time. We’ll see how the situation develops and what our Ukrainian friends need, he added.

There have been no requests yet to receive Ukrainian refugees, but Croatia stands absolutely ready to receive them if necessary, Bozinovic said, recalling that Croatia provided for almost 700,000 refugees, mostly from Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the 1990s war.

We not only have the experience but also an organised system which has already been activated in terms of the possibility to accommodate people and ensure what they need, he said.

About 80 Croatian nationals are still in Ukraine, but the jammed exit routes are a problem.

Bozinovic said that Croatia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Anica Djamic, and her associates were there and that they would help other Croatian nationals as much as they could.

He estimated that it will be possible to evacuate them, but could not say at which pace. He recalled that the Croatian Foreign Ministry had called on them in the past few days to leave Ukraine, but said that evidently some were surprised by what happened.

Bozinovic said the Foreign Ministry and the government would do everything to help both the ambassador and the Croatian nationals to be evacuated.

Asked if NATO expected the participation of Croatian troops, given that it is deploying additional troops along the eastern flank, he said NATO was a defence alliance which rested on the principle of collective defence.

NATO has its plans. Today we decided to deploy a certain number of soldiers in NATO member states if a decision to that effect is made. Croatia will act on all decisions in which it participated in terms of the development of the rapid response force, Bozinovic said.