The siege of Kijevo was the first documented instance of ethnic cleansing in the Yugoslav Wars, marking an early phase of JNA open alignment with Serbian separatist forces.
Key Facts
- Date of capture
- 26 August 1991
- Initial siege period
- Late April – early May 1991
- JNA corps involved
- 9th Corps of the Yugoslav People's Army
- ICTY verdict year
- 2007 (confirmed on appeal 2008)
- Significance
- First ethnic cleansing event in the Yugoslav Wars
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Ethnic and political tensions between Croatian authorities and the Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina escalated in 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. The SAO Krajina, supported by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) under Colonel Ratko Mladić and Knin police chief Milan Martić, sought to assert control over Croat-inhabited territories, leading to a military blockade of the village of Kijevo.
The JNA's 9th Corps and SAO Krajina forces besieged Kijevo in two phases: an initial blockade in late April and early May 1991, which was lifted after negotiations, and a renewed blockade in mid-August 1991. The village was captured on 26 August 1991 and subsequently looted and burned, representing one of the first open acts of JNA cooperation with Serbian separatist forces against Croatian authorities.
Croatian police fled to Drniš and the remaining Croatian population was displaced from Kijevo. The siege was later prosecuted as ethnic cleansing at the ICTY, resulting in a guilty verdict against Martić in 2007, confirmed on appeal in 2008. Croatian authorities also convicted Mladić in absentia for war crimes committed during the siege.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Ratko Mladić, Milan Martić.
Side B
1 belligerent