The NATO aggression against Serbia, or rather the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, began 27 years ago, on 24 March 1999 at 19:53. The aggression against the FRY was a precedent and was carried out without the consent of the UN Security Council.
According to data from the Serbian Ministry of Defence, during the NATO aggression 1,031 members of the army and police were killed, while 5,173 soldiers and police officers were wounded. Around 2,500 civilians were killed, including 89 children, and about 6,000 civilians were wounded, of whom 2,700 were children. A total of 25 people are still listed as missing.
A total of 2,300 airstrikes were carried out, and 22,000 tonnes of munitions were dropped, including 37,000 banned cluster bombs and munitions containing depleted uranium. Following the bombing, the number of malignant tumour cases in Serbia increased annually by around 7,000, while the number of cancer-related deaths rose by approximately 5,000.
Around 25,000 residential buildings were destroyed or damaged, 470 kilometres of roads and 595 kilometres of railway were put out of operation. 14 airports, 19 hospitals, 20 health centres, 18 kindergartens, 69 schools, 176 cultural monuments, and 44 bridges were damaged, while 38 bridges were completely destroyed.
One-third of the country’s power generation capacity was destroyed. Oil refineries in Pančevo and Novi Sad were bombed, causing severe and long-term environmental damage.
The Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) building in Belgrade was destroyed on 23 April, killing 16 people and injuring another 16. The Novi Sad Television building was demolished on 3 May 1999, on World Press Freedom Day.
Šainović: NATO bombing could not have been avoided
Former Prime Minister of Serbia and Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Nikola Šainović stated that the NATO bombing of the FRY in 1999 could not have been avoided, because the country’s leadership at the time did not want to sign capitulation, occupation, and the loss of the country’s sovereignty.
“The war lasted until that ultimatum ‘sign the Rambouillet agreement’ was replaced with Resolution 1244, in which the sovereignty of the state, the presence of part of the army and police in Kosovo, the protection of monasteries, Serbian citizens, and the disarmament of the KLA were included. Those were our conditions. Everything is written in Resolution 1244,” said Šainović on the anniversary of the beginning of the NATO aggression against the FRY.
When asked what the leadership at the time could have done to avoid the bombing, Šainović said that it was not the leadership that decided on the bombing, but those who carried it out, and emphasised that conditions had been imposed on the FRY long before the bombing.
According to Šainović, threats that Serbia would be bombed had existed since 1991, while NATO pressure to enter Kosovo and Metohija had been ongoing since autumn 1998, when the authorities at the time managed to defeat the so-called KLA.
He stated that for the leadership at the time, the Rambouillet Agreement was unacceptable because it effectively meant Serbia would have no sovereignty over Kosovo.
Šainović said that Serbia was asked to accept that, after three years, an international conference would resolve the Kosovo issue in accordance with the will of the people – not the Serbian people – but through a referendum on independence in Kosovo and Metohija, which the leadership could not accept.
“NATO troops would have entered our country”
He added that, in addition, NATO troops would have entered the country. According to him, the choice was between occupation or bombing, which no government could accept.
He noted that at Rambouillet, representatives of Albanians from Kosovo and Metohija demanded immediate independence, which was not accepted, and that the then British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said at a press conference that “the Albanians are not normal”, because if they were protesting now, they could not bomb the Serbs.
He added that Belgrade’s final offer was for the FRY to join NATO, provided the entire country joined, to which Christopher Hill replied that it was “not the subject at all”.
Šainović stated that the war lasted until the ultimatum ‘sign the Rambouillet agreement’ was replaced by the UN Resolution 1244.
He pointed out that during the aggression the FRY managed to defend its borders, but could not defend its cities from air attacks, and that the population was severely endangered.
“They began targeting our infrastructure, as is now happening in Ukraine and Iran. We were left with only three substations, the destruction of which would have meant losing the ability to reroute electricity supply, and when a country is left without electricity, there is no water or heating. Therefore, we accepted this as the only condition – that the UN legally guarantee our sovereignty – and that struggle continues to this day,” said Šainović.
Dačić: NATO aggression a lasting wound
The Minister of the Interior and President of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Ivica Dačić, stated on the anniversary of the beginning of the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, that the day remains recorded as one of the most difficult in Serbia’s recent history and as a lasting wound in the memory of the Serbian people, emphasising that the truth about those days and the innocent victims must not be forgotten.
Dačić noted that in 1999 bombs fell on Serbia, bridges, schools, hospitals and homes were destroyed, and innocent people – children, women, and the elderly – were killed.
“It was an aggression without a decision of the United Nations Security Council, against a small country defending its freedom and dignity. But what they could not destroy was the spirit and faith of our people in their state. Serbia was exposed to immense force, but it was not broken,” Dačić said in a post on Instagram.
According to him, from those days of suffering, we emerged with an even stronger awareness of how freedom, independence, and the right to choose one’s own path are values that cannot be destroyed by bombs or pressure.
“It is our duty to remember all innocent victims and never allow the truth about those days to be forgotten. We owe this to those who perished, but also to the generations to come,” Dačić stated.
(Blic, DW, 24.03.2026)
https://www.blic.rs/vesti/politika/sirom-zemlje-odata-posta-zrtvama-nato-agresije/xnkwp0b
https://www.dw.com/en/depleted-uranium-the-forgotten-legacy-of-the-kosovo-war/a-74633178