Retired navy captain Petar Boskovic said that he believes that the war in Ukraine will, unfortunately, last until Moscow achieves its goals. He also commented on the drone crash in Zagreb, arguing that it could be a message sent by Russia and related to NATO. Pročitaj više

Boskovic said that witnessed events on the battlefield in former Yugoslavia for four years and that now, in the case of Ukraine, „everything is very recognizable“ to him.

„I am terrified of the suffering of civilians,“ he said, adding that he does not expect a „blitzkrieg“ in Ukraine.

„It can’t happen that easily, people have no idea how big Ukraine is, it is the largest European country, bigger than France,” he said, also arguing that the geography of the area makes it difficult for Russia to advance.

He warned about fake news regarding the war in Ukraine, arguing that one must be careful when making conclusions based on media reports.

Boskovic said that Serbia is “the only country that has a moral right to say what it thinks to one side as well as to the other because it knows what bombing, exoduses and suffering of civilians mean on the one hand, and what paramilitary formations mean on the other.“

He noted that, according to the law in Serbia, everyone who would return to Serbia from the front in Ukraine could face the court. Boskovic said he supports the law and that he thinks that it would have been good to have it during the wars in former Yugoslavia.

„The people who go there, you have that Azov brigade, it’s like if we would have had neo-Nazis in the Serbian Army, and they admit it themselves, it’s a time bomb, you can’t do that,“ he said.

„Serbia must be wise”

When asked when the end of the war can be expected, he said that he could not give forecasts after 16 or 17 days of the war and added that what is happening is the encirclement of cities, not the bombing Serbia experienced during which bridges, maternity hospitals and the building of the public broadcaster were attacked.

„I watched horrible reports, but you also have paradoxical information that there was a bombing and that one person was killed. One must be careful with that information. I think this will last until Moscow absolutely pushes forward its goals. I do not believe that anyone will interfere in this, especially not NATO, Ukraine is not a NATO country, they are on the sidelines,” he said.

“I just pray to God that we will be wise, even though we have the moral right to say everything to each side,” he said.

He argued that Serbia as a nation does not have a feeling of when it is time to “calm down and stop”.

“We immediately start with emotions, our mind works slower than our heart,“ Boskovic said, adding that wisdom should be applied when considering requests to Serbia to decide which side it is on if it wants to join the EU.

„That is the wisdom I was talking about, we will always have time to think well before we take a stand. So far, it has been very good, we have declared our position on the aggression against Ukraine, on the other hand, we are tied to Russia in terms of energy,” he said, emphasising that Germany is the one that is now leading European policy and „one should be careful there“.

„I would also be angry if I were in Plenkovic“

Boskovic also said that if he were in the place of the Croatian Prime Minister Plenkovic, he would be angry because the drone that fell in Zagreb flew over Hungary for 45 minutes, without being prevented from falling into the Croatian capital.

There are two possibilities regarding this event, he said.

One is that it was the result of an error, which Boskovic said is highly unlikely.

The other one is that “this is a message sent from Russia related to NATO,” he said, adding that this is his personal opinion.

„For it to be in the air for so long and for the air traffic control to not see it… I think that is a serious message and I understand why Plenkovic is worried,“ Boskovic stressed.