Over 20 Hungarians injured in clashes in Kosovo
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The Hungarian Defense Minister reports more injuries during clashes in Kosovo with NATO troops.
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KFOR soldiers guard a municipal building in the town of Zvecan, northern Kosovo, Monday, May 29, 2023. (AP)
More than 20 Hungarians were injured in clashes in the north of Kosovo, seven of whiom are seriously injured, Hungarian Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky reported.
Szalay-Bobrovniczky added that the injured Hungarian soldiers were being airlifted to Hungary for treatment. "Hungarian soldiers are part of the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR. Soldiers of the Hungarian army participating in the NATO peacekeeping forces were given the task of dispersing the crowd in the locality of Zvecan in Kosovo. Soldiers of different nationalities were also injured in the clash. According to information available at the moment, among them, there are more than 20 Hungarian soldiers, seven of whom were [injured] seriously, but their condition is stable," Szalay-Bobrovniczky wrote on Facebook.
Serbia's National Security Council condemned on Saturday NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) for standing by while "Kosovar police used force to install new Albanian mayors in Serb-majority northern provinces." On the other hand, Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said that the Serbian army was deploying its units later in the day near Kosovo in anticipation of provocations.
Hundreds of Kosovo Serbs came to local administration buildings on Monday demanding the withdrawal of Kosovar police and officials. The KFOR mission's troops, equipped with crowd dispersal devices, were deployed in the municipalities of Zvecan, Leposaviq, and Zubin Potok.
During the clashes, at least 52 Serbs were injured according to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Media reported that at least 41 soldiers of the KFOR contingent received injuries in clashes, with the mission itself confirming 25 injuries.
Vucic said on Monday that the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Kosovo Republic Albin Kurti intentionally planned for escalation to take place in the north of the province to purposefully spark a conflict between Serbia and NATO.
Earlier this week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that Kosovo must not escalate or take unilateral decisions as he urged both Serbia and Kosovo to engage in EU-led talks.
"Pristina & Belgrade must engage in the EU-led dialogue now, as the only way to peace & normalization. Pristina must de-escalate & not take unilateral, destabilizing steps," Stoltenberg said through a social media post after holding talks with the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
This comes after local media reported on May 26 that police forces of the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo forced their way into an administrative building belonging to the northern municipality of Leposaviq and occupied it after two other buildings were raided in Zvecan and Zubin Potok.
