NATO aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999.

After Yugoslav authorities, led by President Slobodan Milosevic, were accused of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo’s predominantly Albanian-populated Serbian autonomous province, NATO demanded the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops and police from Kosovo and the deployment of troops in Kosovo with the right to move freely throughout Yugoslavia.

After Yugoslavia refused to comply with the ultimatum, on March 24, 1999, NATO began bombing military facilities in Yugoslavia, later expanded to industrial and civilian targets. During the 78 days of incessant bombing, it is estimated that between 1,200 and 2,500 Yugoslavs died and about 5,000 people were wounded. Yugoslavia suffered about $30 billion in damage. After Yugoslavia agreed to the withdrawal of troops and police from its autonomous province of Kosovo, the bombing stopped on June 10. On June 12, NATO troops entered Kosovo.

At the same time, today in Kosovo itself, a formally autonomous region within Serbia, actually managed by the UN, i.e. the command of the peacekeeping contingent, and the government of which consists of former field commanders of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, this day is considered a holiday: an important stage in the expulsion of ethnic Serbs from the territory where Serbian statehood was born almost 1,000 years ago is celebrated.