24.03.2025.

President Vučić: Boundless gratitude to those who showed that humanity and heroism have no limits

The commemoration of the 1999 NATO Aggression Remembrance Day was held tonight at the Colonel Milenko Pavlović Military Airport in Batajnica, with the President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, and the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, in attendance.

The ceremony was attended by Minister of Defence Bratislav Gašić and the Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, General Milan Mojsilović.

Tonight’s commemoration started with a commemorative mass officiated by His Holiness Porfirije, Serbian Patriarch, and priests, and a minute’s silence for the victims of the NATO aggression.

Addressing those present, President Vučić said that 26 years after the NATO aggression, he feels, both as a Serb and as the President of Serbia, infinite pride, but also a sense of sadness and grief for the victims.

- Despite everything we have lost – they did not defeat us. Because we were attacked by 19 powers that are 67 times more populous than us and have 228 times more territory than us. They were 518 times richer than us at the time, but we did not bow our heads, and we did not fall, never to get up again - said President Vučić.

He noted that today he stands as the president of a free country that makes its own decisions and is sovereign and independent.

- Therefore, the events of 1999 were not a defeat for us, even though we suffered heavy losses. We have nothing to be ashamed of. After all the bombs and the puppets who later seized power to loot and serve someone else, Serbia is a country strengthened even by those misfortunes, said the president, adding that “they caused us immense pain, because children, pregnant women, women, the elderly, police officers and soldiers were killed”.

The President of Serbia said that “NATO attacks destroyed hospitals, bridges and everything we had built for decades, but that pain produced something they had not hoped for – defiance, pride and the decision to be our own masters, to rebuild everything they destroyed and to create an independent Serbia, which is respected and heard and which does not give up its dignity and its freedom."

- Of course, many are bothered by this even today. Of course, they don’t like this in a world of force, a world without principles, a world that does not respect international law, but only its own interests. It bothers them despite the fact that Serbia has insisted on peace for 13 years now, and that it wants to compete only in economy, and it was winning in the spheres of business, development, sports, science, without endangering anyone, until recently, when they attacked us again using different means. They are bothered by the success we have achieved without weapons, without conflicts, a success that is in many ways historic, that is not influenced by the circumstances, difficult times or crises that we did not cause. They are bothered by the fact that we work, while some others want to wage war. They are bothered by the fact that we can be free and independent.

That is why they have launched a different force against Serbia, he said. “They have pumped in millions and told countless lies in an attempt to forcibly seize Serbia against the will of the people and hand it over to those who were once destroying it. That is why today, 26 years after the aggression, after so much suffering, death, blood and frenzied destruction of our country, we must provide clear answers to a whole series of questions”, said President Vučić.

- As a Serb and the President of Serbia, I feel proud knowing that we will win, regardless of their growingly impotent rampage and increasingly more frequent violence throughout Serbia. I know that the decent, hardworking and honest Serbia will never give up. Whatever they do, Serbia will not be enslaved this time. It will remain free and independent, and only those who gain people’s trust exclusively in the elections, will be able to rule it – said the President of Serbia, stressing that no one will change the will of the people, because their will was forged in wars, created by big bombs, making our small nation great and proud.

Speaking about the victims of NATO aggression, President Vučić said that we must not and will not forget the fact that our children were killed.

- As our patriarch said - we must forgive, but we must never forget. Fifteen or twenty years ago, many in our country wanted us to forget it, they spoke of the aggression as an intervention. I am proud that as President of Serbia I was able to lay a wreath at the monument to Colonel Pavlović and to visit Crniljevo, to talk to his son Nemanja. I am proud that we remember our heroes. We are able to do so thanks to our arrangement with Republika Srpska and President Dodik to meet every year to commemorate the suffering of our people - said the President of Serbia.

He said that he will restore stability, peace, order and discipline to Serbia and that the democratic majority of Serbia wants to respect the victims from our past, but also wants to look to the future.

- Eternal glory to our heroes who fought for the freedom of their homeland, knowing that the enemy they were facing was much more powerful and stronger. Boundless gratitude to those who showed that humanity and heroism have no limits - concluded the President of Serbia.

According to the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, there are many sad days in the history of the Serbian people, and this one is without a doubt one of them.

- This is one of those days that, the more time passes, the more painful they become. They are painful because injustice hurts, because no one has ever been held accountable for all the people killed in the aggression. That is a sentence that follows our people wherever they are and wherever crimes were committed against our people - said Dodik, emphasizing that it is very important that we commemorate this day.

Dodik said that “despite the injustice it suffered, Serbia must find the strength to move on”.

- Serbia must again become the most developed economy in Europe, and it must become an internationally important political actor, as it already is. We need that in these times - Dodik emphasized.

In his sermon, Patriarch Porfirije said that it is always in moments like these, when we remember the bitter episodes of our long-suffering history, which from the time of the collapse of the Serbian Empire until now has had very short periods of peace and prosperity, that we hardly dare to speak.

- It is that dismal feeling when we lack words and wisdom to say anything, but the facts do not allow us to remain silent. Then the words of the Old Testament prophet, King David, who sang about himself and the suffering of his people, come to mind. It is as if he were speaking about the history of the Serbian Orthodox people in the 20th century, and not about the Jewish people 1,000 years before Christ - said Patriarch Porfirije, adding that on this day he feels a duty and responsibility to call on everyone from Saint Sava’s throne to remember the holy words of Christ "love your neighbour as yourself" and not to forget them, distort them, or act completely contrary to them.

Nemanja Pavlović, the son of Colonel Milenko Pavlović, who died during the NATO aggression, also addressed the audience. He said that, speaking about his father, he was also speaking about all those who defended our homeland 26 years ago.

- On May 4, 1999, our father, following the example of his ancestors, took off from this airport, from this very runway, but he did not set out on an ordinary combat mission but to make history, become a legend, a story. He went into battle against those who know nothing about history or roots, glory or honour, pride or human dignity. He took off determined to protect the weak, not only in the city of Valjevo, but also in the cradle of our nation, the place of our birth, Kosovo and Metohija. Showing us that Kosovo and Metohija is not the geography of an area, but the topography of the meaning of life and determination - said Pavlović, adding that we are obliged to remember our heroes, without whom we would not exist.

The commemoration was attended by the Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia, Serbian Prime Minister, government ministers, members of parliament, representatives of the institutions of Republika Srpska and North Macedonia, members of the Defence Minister’s and the Chief of the General Staff’s respective collegiums, representatives of the local self-government, religious communities, diplomatic corps, victims’ families and numerous citizens.

To honour the victims of the NATO aggression, the commands, units and institutions of the Serbian Armed Forces held commemorative events and wreath-laying ceremonies at memorials to fallen members of the armed forces. Members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces also participated in commemorative ceremonies at the local level.