Commenting on the war in eastern Croatia, the leader of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), which is a junior partner in the ruling coalition, told the Serbian press that "until now it was always said that Serbs started that war, which is not true." He said that apart from civilians and wounded people, there were also Croatian soldiers in the Vukovar Hospital before the town fell into the hands of Serb rebels supported by the Yugoslav People's Army in mid-November 1991.

Asked by reporters covering her participation in a regional Danube summit in Bucharest on Monday to comment on Stanimirovic's statement, Kosor said she had not yet read his interview in its entirety and that his statement would be discussed by the coalition partners.

The PM said that it was a historical fact that Vukovar "is the victim of the bloody aggression and that it is well known who the aggressors were."

It is also a well-known fact that wounded people who defended Vukovar were treated in the hospital. During exhumations at Ovcara, metal implants and bandages belonging to the wounded were unearthed, Kosor said referring to the atrocities committed against Croats at the Ovcara farm outside Vukovar.

Even if those soldiers had not been wounded, it is indisputable that the executions and atrocities were committed at Ovcara, which cannot be justified in any way, Kosor said, explaining that prisoners of war are entitled to protection under all conventions.