We arrived together with the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Director of Police, the Director of our Intelligence, and other colleagues from the security sector to witness firsthand the extraordinary damage inflicted upon us last night by this terrorist and criminal attack, which has severely damaged critical infrastructure; this includes significant harm to both electricity production and water supply.
Only thanks to the selfless work of these police officers, engineers, experts, and workers have we managed to partially mitigate the damage, even though we are only at slightly over a quarter of the normal water flow through the Ibër Lepenc canal, which both cools the thermal power plants in Obiliq and supplies water to residents of many municipalities, including parts of Pristina.
The police are conducting investigations, have carried out raids, and there have been arrests, testimonies, and material evidence, and all these criminals and terrorists will face justice, with the power of the just law of the democratic and independent Republic of Kosovo.
I thank everyone who is working and contributing. This was the third attack, following two previous attacks in the last 72 hours, and these attacks were carried out by professionals. Having seen the site in person, there are no possibilities that this could be done by an individual or two, there are no possibilities that this could be done by ordinary citizens; it has been done by an organization that is professional in such terrorist attacks, and the ability, capacity, and interest for such a thing lies solely with Serbia.
You all know that on 29 June of last year, we declared the so-called Civil Protection and the so-called Northern Brigade as terrorist organizations. These organizations, particularly Civil Protection, are legally recognized in Serbia and are included in its payroll list because they are allocated budgets and are simultaneously part of the organizational chart of the governance structure of the hostile and aggressive Serbian state.
Therefore, we also hold Serbia responsible for this. When we add to this the fact that, during this week, there have been significant attacks with over 200 rockets in Ukraine by the forces of the Russian Federation targeting critical infrastructure, particularly energy capacities, leaving over 1 million households in Ukraine without electricity, it is clear that hybrid warfare has gained great momentum, and in addition to this, what is referred to in the literature in military and defense strategies, kinetic warfare, has also been enacted, as the aim is to damage critical infrastructure where the damage is maximal.
Thus, maximal damage was also targeted in this terrorist attack, as they could have placed these over 15 kilograms of explosives on a road, on a road axis. could have placed them on a bridge, but they targeted the Ibër Lepenc canal, which brings us water from Ujman and, as is known, the Radoniq, Batllava, and Badovc lakes, even when their total quantity and water volume are combined, do not amount to more than one-third of Lake Ujman, making it clear that the aim was to maximize the damage. We must support our security and law enforcement agencies, our Police, our Intelligence, and the Kosovo Security Force, so that the truth can be fully uncovered, justice implemented, and similar incidents prevented in the future.
We also thank the international actors – the United States Embassy, the European Union Ambassador, the German, Italian, and French Ambassadors, KFOR, and EULEX – for the coordination we had during the night and for their support for our country, our citizens, and the democratic functioning with services of security, legality, rights, and peace for all citizens without distinction.
The Police in Kosovo are not against Serbs; it is Serbia that is against Kosovo. It finances, orchestrates, supports, and directs such criminal groups, which it keeps on its payroll and within its governance structure, therefore, we hold Serbia responsible for this and call upon international actors, particularly Brussels and Washington, to condemn Belgrade and demand accountability from it.
The silence of the President of Serbia is not coincidental. It is not coincidental that they are waiting to assess the damage, how much they have destabilized us, to determine what other episodes they can organize. This was the third attack in the past 72 hours; it is not the first. We hope it will be the last, but it is the third attack in the past 72 hours.
Thank you!
Last modified: December 5, 2024