Candles were lit around Vukovar's General Hospital on Wednesday in memory of Croatian soldiers and civilians killed, gone missing and detained during the 1991 aggression on the easternmost Croatian town by the former Yugoslav army (JNA) and Serb militia, while young people from Vukovar also prayed for them.
Vukovar Remembrance Day, to commemorate the town's suffering in the summer and autumn 1991 military aggression, will be marked on Thursday.
The battle for Vukovar began on 25 August 1991, when the JNA and Serb militia launched an artillery and infantry attack on the town. According to data from Vukovar's hospital, 1,624 soldiers and civilians were killed while 1,219 were wounded before the town fell on November 18. The besieged town was defended by about 1,800 soldiers, police and volunteers.
