DISINFO: Thousands were killed in NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia aiming to tear Kosovo apart
SUMMARY
NATO forces began bombing Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. The goal is to tear Kosovo apart. There were thousands of victims, thousands of dead and tens of thousands of wounded.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the number of civilian casualties of NATO bombing, previously debunked by Polygraph. According to the Humanitarian Law Center, in Serbia (excluding Kosovo) and Montenegro, 275 persons lost their lives in the NATO bombings: 180 civilians, 90 members of the Yugoslav Armed Forces and five members of the Ministry of Interior of Serbia. In Kosovo, 484 people were killed: 267 civilians (209 Albanian and 58 non-Albanian), 171 members of the YA, 20 members of the Serbian MUP and 26 members of the KLA (19 of whom died in the NATO bombing of the Dubrava prison, near Istok). Human Rights Watch concludes that as few as 489 and as many as 528 Yugoslav civilians were killed in the ninety separate incidents in Operation Allied Force. Read similar disinformation about the war in former Yugoslavia alleging that around 2500 people were killed in NATO’s bombing campaign and the returning claim that around 2,000 people were killed in NATO’s bombings in [former] Yugoslavia. Read more about disinformation about the war in former Yugoslavia here and here.