Bombing ended 15 years ago (Blic)
Tomorrow is 15th anniversary of the end of NATO bombing. End of bombing was preceded by the adoption of the UN SC Resolution 1244.
A day earlier, on June 9, representatives of the Yugoslav Army and NATO signed the Kumanovo Military Technical Agreement that stipulates withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army from Kosovo and the entry of international troops in the province. The crisis, after several failed diplomatic attempts, was completed by the mediation mission of Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. Air strikes against Yugoslavia began on March 24, 1999, and lasted 11 weeks. According to various estimates, between 1,200 and 2,500 people were killed.
NATO has carried out attacks against Yugoslavia from the ships in the Adriatic Sea, the four air bases in Italy, and in some operations were involved strategic bombers that took off from bases in Western Europe and the United States. NATO action, which the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and many legal experts called aggression, came after unsuccessful negotiations on the settlement of the crisis in Kosovo, which was held in Rambouillet and Paris in February and March 1999.
The bombing, which lasted 78 days, severely damaged infrastructure, commercial buildings, schools, health institutions, media houses and cultural monuments.