A mass for Croatian defenders was said in Madrid's Pontifical Basilica of St. Michael on Saturday to mark on Homeland War Victims Remembrance Day and Vukovar and Skabrnja Victims Remembrance Day, observed on 18 November.

The mass was led by the basilica’s rector, Juan Ramón García-Morato, and Croatian priest, Reverend Renato Kucic who in his speech thanked all Croatian defenders for the freedom and independence of Croatia.

In attendance at the mass in that baroque Roman Catholic church was also Croatian Ambassador Nives Malenica and other members of the embassy staff.

In the Croat-populated areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, commemorative ceremonies were held to mark Vukovar and Skabrnja Victims Remembrance Day.

In Mostar, hundreds of citizens lit candles and told prayers in the city’s Vukovarska Ulica Street on Saturday evening.

In Novi Travnik, central Bosnia, a 10-metre-long mural with Vukovar’s Water Tower as the city’s landmark, was painted in memory of the suffering of Vukovar residents in the 1991-1995 Homeland War.

Dozens of people from Vitez, Zepce, Orasje, Tuzla and Brcko, travelled to Vukovar to join Saturday’s Remembrance Procession.