Serbia, Kosovo mark 20 years since NATO bombing that killed thousands

NATO committed a crime when it bombed Serbia and the country will never join the alliance, President Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday on the 20th anniversary of NATO intervening against Yugoslavia to stop bloodshed in Kosovo.

"The death of 2,500 civilians, of 79 children, the devastation of the country, damage running into tens of billions of dollars, it will always be a crime for us," he said at a ceremony held in Nis, 250 kilometres south of Belgrade.

NATO bombed Serbia and its then Yugoslav sister republic Montenegro for 78 days from March 24, 1999, over Belgrade's indiscriminate and heavy-handed response to an Albanian insurgency in Kosovo.

The late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic eventually capitulated and ordered the armed forces to retreat from what was then a Serbian province. The intervention and the ousting of Serbian forces paved the way for Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008.

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Irinej, accused western leaders of plotting the "destruction and dismembering" of Serbia.

"They did us evil, devastated our factories, industries, roads and even hospitals," Irinej said. "It is something that only makes the devil happy."

Kosovo Albanian leaders also marked the anniversary, but as a positive event.

President Hashim Thaci, who was the political representative of the ethnic Albanian rebels, described the day when the bombing of the Serbian foes began as "great and glorious."

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, a former rebel commander, said "that day 20 years ago marked a turnaround. Our people looked to the sky during the intervention, saying 'there is god.'

"We will forever be grateful to NATO and the United States," he added.

Kosovo has been recognized by most western powers and around 110 countries worldwide, but Serbia still claims sovereignty over it and is, with its fellow Orthodox superpower Russia, blocking it from joining the United Nations.