Key Facts
- Date of capture
- 26 August 1991
- First siege phase
- Late April – early May 1991
- Second siege phase
- Mid-August to 26 August 1991
- ICTY verdict on Martić
- Guilty (2007, confirmed on appeal 2008)
- Significance
- First ethnic cleansing incident in the Yugoslav Wars
Strategic Narrative Overview
The initial blockade, imposed in late April and early May 1991, was lifted following negotiations prompted by large protests in Split against JNA involvement. However, JNA and SAO Krajina forces reinstated the siege in mid-August 1991. On 26 August, Kijevo was captured. The village was subsequently looted and burned, and the episode marked one of the first occasions the JNA openly cooperated with Serbian separatist paramilitaries against Croatian authorities.
01 / The Origins
As Croatia moved toward independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, ethnic tensions between Croatian authorities and the Serbian minority intensified. The Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina, backed by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), sought to detach Serb-inhabited regions from Croatian control. Kijevo, a Croat-inhabited village surrounded by Serb-majority territory near Knin, became an early flashpoint when JNA forces under Colonel Ratko Mladić and SAO Krajina police under Milan Martić imposed a blockade in late April 1991.
03 / The Outcome
Following the capture of Kijevo, Croatian police retreated toward Drniš and the remaining Croatian civilian population abandoned the village, completing its ethnic cleansing. Milan Martić was later tried and convicted by the ICTY for war crimes including his role at Kijevo; the findings were upheld on appeal in 2008. Croatian courts also tried Ratko Mladić in absentia and convicted him for war crimes committed during the siege.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Ratko Mladić, Milan Martić.
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.