Thousands take part in 5.5-km-long commemorative walk in Vukovar

The remembrance march, which started from the hospital grounds was led by Croatian female war veterans, accompanied by the families of those who were killed, went missing, were murdered, forcibly taken, or have since passed away.

Along the route of the commemorative walk, thousands of patriots gathered, having begun arriving in Vukovar as early as yesterday. From the windows of the Croatian Radio Vukovar building, wartime radio reports by journalist and editor Sinisa Glavasevic, who was killed at Ovcara on 20 November 1991, were broadcast.

Ahead of the war veterans in the column, young people walk wearing T-shirts bearing the names of the killed and missing Croatian defenders of Vukovar. Among them is Karla Stimac, a young woman from Vinkovci.

"My feelings are mixed; pride that I can walk in the column of remembrance and wear a T-shirt with the name of a fallen Vukovar defender, and sorrow for the lives lost and all the horrors that the people of Vukovar endured," Stimac said.

Before the walk, a commemorative programme was held in the courtyard of the National Memorial Hospital "Dr. Juraj Njavro," with political officials emphasising that Vukovar and its sacrifice remain a foundation of modern Croatia