But the correspondent of “RG” traced the places where NATO aircraft used ammunition with a uranium-238 shell.
Almost every report on the bombing of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999 is accompanied by memorable shots. The top of a mountain covered in trees with a television tower on it. An explosion and a huge cloud of black smoke.
A screenshot of an airstrike on the RSL and a TV tower on Mount Plyachkovitsa was taken by Igor Ivanovich, a Serbian Radio and TV operator in the town of Vrana.
Commentators usually point out that this is when the Serbian television telecommunications mast was hit. After that, the focus is on the targeted destruction of Serbian state media. The first is the barbaric destruction of the building of RTS (Radio and Television of Serbia), where 16 journalists were killed on the night of April 23, 1999. Journalist Angelina Vučić, the mother of the current president of Serbia, was also there at her place of work – she miraculously survived, she was thrown 10 meters by the explosion. And each night of April 23, at 2:06 am sharp, relatives, friends and colleagues of the victims lay flowers and light candles near the monument entitled “Why?” in Belgrade.
A NATO cassette bomb, including the TV tower on Mount Plyachkovitsa. Exhibited in Belgrade Kalemegdan Fortress. Photo: Igor Elkov/RG
Barbarism, but NATO at least refrained from using depleted uranium aerial bombs on the capital of Yugoslavia. But they did not spare uranium to hit the RTS relay on Mount Plyachkovitsa.
The moment of the attack of the suicide bombers was filmed by the Serbian radio and television operator in the town of Vranje, Igor Ivanovich. As he himself remembers, his intuition told him that he should point the television camera at the top of the mountain, which was two kilometers from his house. The airstrikes deprived almost all of southern Serbia of television signal, but that was a lesser evil.
Clouds of dust, dirt and rocks rising from the top of the mountain contained particles of depleted uranium. And of course, everything settled on the city. The result – 24 years after this bombing, Vrane and the surrounding villages are the leaders in the number of malignant oncological diseases in the whole of Serbia.
I go to the place of these events.
From Belgrade – 350 km south. By the standards of Serbia, the city of Vranje is not at all small, 55,000 people live there, and taking into account the surrounding villages and municipalities – more than 80,000. The population of Serbia is 6.8 million inhabitants, excluding Kosovo and Metohija. By the way, Kosovo is easily accessible from these places – if directly, through the mountains, there will be no 20 km. Yes, everything is close here, a sort of mini-crossroads of worlds: from here to the border with North Macedonia and Bulgaria, it’s less than an hour by car.
Surroundings of the town of Vranje. Photo: Igor Elkov/RG
Vranje is incredibly beautiful: red tiled roofs and a sea of green. How long these places have been chosen by people is not really known. For a few centuries BC. there were camps of the Roman legions, later the Slavs came, and the first mention of Vran in the Byzantine chronicles was found at the beginning of the 11th century, fifty years before our Moscow. Small town in the valley, surrounded by mountains Pliachkovica, Przhar. Yes, it’s not easy to pronounce, but those are the names of the local mountains.
In the south of Serbia, near the town of Vranje. Photo: Igor Elkov/RG
How did the clouds of radioactive dust that fell on the city in the spring of 1999 change the lives of local residents? By the way, there were at least four airstrikes, NATO with maniacal stubbornness destroyed relay towers for several days. I interviewed a representative of the Oncological Patients Society of Vranje remotely: Vesna Miletich, a journalist by profession and a member of the Society, was in a cancer hospital in Belgrade (where visitors are not allowed due to infectious restrictions ), the correspondent of “RG” – on the mountain, where in 1999 NATO used uranium ammunition.
Members of the Vranje Cancer Society. Photo: Courtesy of Vranje Cancer Society.
Spring, tell us about your Company: how many are you, how old are you?
Vesna Miletić: The Vrane Cancer Society has over 100 members between the ages of 30 and 80. But the registration or admission of new members continues, and this number increases day by day. There are children among the patients, but they are not being treated in Vrana, but in the cities of Nis and Belgrade, so we do not have this information.
And who suffered the most: the inhabitants of the mountain villages or the city?
Vesna Miletich: Among cancer patients, there are people from the city and surrounding villages. It is very difficult to say if there is more from the city itself or from the countryside. According to our data, they are more numerous in the city, which makes sense given the population.
Action of the Society of Cancer Patients Vranje. Photo: Courtesy of Vranje Cancer Society.
Are they the survivors of the 1999 attacks, or are there their children?
Vesna Miletich: Our country was bombed in 1999. Banned depleted uranium was used at the time, and in some cities cluster bombs were also banned. The target of the airstrikes in Vran was a radio and television repeater on Mount Plyachkovitsa above the town. Thus, in the immediate vicinity of the city itself, prohibited weapons were used on a civilian television and radio transmitter, which is illegal. Since then, 24 years have passed and, as I said, there are people of all ages among the patients.
How long after the DU airstrikes were civilians diagnosed with cancer?
Vesna Miletic: It was very difficult to make a diagnosis right away, because people from this region are sent for examination and treatment to Nis or Belgrade, where there are more modern diagnostic equipment. It’s more expensive. Sometimes it takes several months, which is a lot, especially when you know how important the time factor is in the treatment of cancer.
View from the “Uranium Mountain” on Vran, where the radioactive cloud descended. Photo: Igor Elkov/RG
In your opinion, is it possible to completely clean the contaminated area? Where are people determined to leave?
Vesna Miletich: The area contaminated with depleted uranium has been cleaned up with state support. As far as I know, a follow-up was also carried out so that the competent institutions of the country could provide objective data. When it comes to moving, the thing is, people are still moving to big cities, but I think it’s for a better, more meaningful life.
City of Vranje. An ordinary Serbian city, where, as in the whole country, there is a negative demography. Photo: Igor Elkov/RG
What do you aspire to?
<
p class=””>Vesna Miletich: The goal of our Society is to support cancer patients, as well as to constantly emphasize the importance of early diagnosis. We are proud of everything we have done: the two Health Center oncology clinics we initiated, the provision of free exams at private medical clinics, and free taxis for people undergoing chemotherapy. We’re a non-profit organization, we don’t make money, but we’re here to support anyone in need and let everyone know they’re not alone. And we will not stop, because our mission is human and, above all, human.
City of Vranje. Photo: Igor Elkov/RG
Do you receive compensation from countries that have used depleted uranium?
Vesna Miletić: No member of our association has received compensation due to cancer resulting from the bombardments and the use of prohibited weapons. There was an initiative by some lawyers to sue members of the NATO alliance, but the results are unknown to me.
In the next report we will tell and show how the inhabitants of the mountain live, whose houses were 500 meters from the explosion of depleted uranium shell bombs.
Every year, 30,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in Serbia, half of whom die from it. Photo: Igor Elkov/RG
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