Hungarian Peacekeepers Injured in Kosovo

More than 20 Hungarian soldiers were reported to be injured when Hungarian Defense Forces troops, serving in the NATO peacekeeping force, carried out a crowd dispersal operation in the Kosovo town of Zvečan on Monday.

According to a social media post by the Hungarian minister of defense, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, more than 20 Hungarian soldiers were injured in the clash, including seven seriously, but their condition is stable. The injured Hungarian soldiers will be airlifted to Hungary for further treatment, he wrote.

Later, it was also announced that the Airbus A319 aircraft of the Hungarian Defense Forces, which is designed to provide medical care, left the airbase in the central Hungarian city of Kecskemét on Monday evening for Kosovo with military doctors and the deputy chief of staff on board.

A video posted of KFOR soldiers wounded in the unrest shows local Serbs hitting and throwing sticks at NATO peacekeepers lined up with shields. Behind the line wall, several wounded soldiers are lying on the ground.

On April 23, advanced elections for mayors were held in four municipalities in northern Kosovo, after their leaders resigned in November over a dispute between Serbia and Kosovo. The majority of Serbs boycotted the early elections, resulting in a very low turnout and, thus, according to the votes cast, the municipalities will in future be led by mayors of Albanian nationality. Neither the local Serbs nor the Serbian leadership find it acceptable that the elections with such a low turnout and the boycott of the elections by the Serbs was described as legitimate by the Kosovo leadership and the international community.