In an exclusive interview for N1, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, George Joulwan, analysed the current developments in Ukraine and the situation on the ground from a military perspective and spoke about some details from the war in BiH.

Two former Supreme Allied Commanders are very closely associated with Bosnia and Herzegovina – George Joulwan and Wesley Clark.

Joulwan made a clear parallel between what happened then and what is happening now.

“I thought that (Slobodan) Milosevic was a war criminal and I think that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal, and I’m sure he’ll pay the price for that,” he said.

He commented on the failures of the Russian forces in Ukraine, arguing that “a lack of discipline and a lack of emphasis on proper procedures means the attack failed because officers and soldiers lacked the motivation to carry out their mission.”

On the other hand, he said he was not surprised to see the strong resistance by the Ukrainians, adding that they have shown pride in their country, history and military.

“I am not surprised that they’re holding such a good line on the Russian advance. They love their country, they will fight for their country, and that’s evident. And if need be, they’ll die for their country. That is what is the soul of an army. And Ukrainians are demonstrating that” Joulwan said.

He said he mentioned the idea of establishing exclusion zones in Ukraine as was done in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the second attack on the Markale marketplace in Bosnia’s capital.

“We ended up putting a 20-kilometre exclusion zone around Sarajevo. Then the UN asked us to put them around Gorazde, Bihac and several other areas so that nothing can shoot out, but nothing can shoot in,” he said.

Joulwan said he noticed back then “the lack of the UN protecting the civilians as they should.”

“We had to wait for what we called a ‘dual key’ on the airstrike. We had an air zone above the no-fly zone. But the turning of the key to do it had to go through the UN commanders for Bosnia and then back to the UN,” he said.

“Then I got the North-Atlantic Council to agree to let me determine. So we had another shelling, we had multiple airstrikes go in. And that to me was the turning point of the war,” he explained.

He said that his “best supporter” in this was Joe Biden, who was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time.

“I know him well, I know how he feels about NATO in particular, and I think you can see that in how he is trying to keep NATO together – not with 16 nations like when I was there, but now with 30 nations, which is a tough task to do,” he said.

Watch the full interview in English in the video above.