Serbian Health Minister Danica Grujicic said NATO's use of depleted uranium in its air bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 was a "horrible and inhumane" event on the entire region and not limited to only the targeted countries.

"It was a horrible and inhumane experiment on the whole region, not only on Serbia and Montenegro. I hope that the international scientific community will understand that this [the bombing's consequences for human health] should be scientifically investigated and weapons with depleted uranium should be banned," Grujicic said in a televised interview.

Read more: Serbia not to join NATO, cites children killed in 1999

The aggression led to an exponential rise in cancer cases, pregnancy issues, male infertility, and autoimmune diseases, in addition to mental illnesses in children born during and after the bombing.

NATO waged brutal aggression in the former Yugoslavia in 1999 for 78 days, which led to the disincorporation of the former republic, killed between 3,500-4,000, and injured some 10,000 others, two-thirds of which were civilians. The alliance's aggression cost Belgrade around $100 billion in material damages.

Remembering NATO's massacres

Over the period of the aggression, the alliance dropped an estimated 15 tonnes of depleted uranium in bombs and shells, after which the country's oncology diseases spiked, ranking it the first in terms of cancer cases in Europe. In the first ten years following the heavy shelling, about 30,000 developed cancer, and estimations say that between 10,000-18,000 of them died.

Nation-wide memorials kicked off on Friday evening in the city of Sombor, where the first NATO air bomb fell on March 24, 1999. Among the millions of attendees who had gathered for the memorial included the Serbian President, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Serb co-President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik, and other government officials. 

During his address, Vucic condemned NATO for fabricating false pretexts of alleged humanitarian disaster to launch its attack on Yugoslavia. 

He said that when NATO understood it could not earn formal legal approval from the UN Security Council to launch the attack, it decided to carry it out without UN approval.

We will not forget

Serbs will forget the atrocities committed by the alliance "only when all Serbs disappear," the President said.

"It has been 24 years since you ripped away part of our country, killing children and civilians, military and police. Where did you get the right to kill our military and police, who gave you that right?" Vucic said, noting that NATO's illegal campaign had caused $100 billion worth of damage.  

"You have not prevented any humanitarian catastrophe, you have armed rebel groups in a free and sovereign country, which has crossed to the territory of another state even a single inch, not even one toe," Vucic added.

Serbia will forget about NATO aggression in 1999 only when all Serbs disappear - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, speaking at mourning events dedicated to the 24th anniversary of NATO aggression against Yugoslavia pic.twitter.com/vHwmtPrZbh

— Spriter (@spriter99880) March 24, 2023