Victory Day celebration to depend on epidemiological situation

Victory Day celebrations in Knin (Photo credit: Roberta F./Creative Commons 3.0 license)

ZAGREB, July 21 (Hina) – The Minister of Veterans’ Affairs, Tomo Medved, said on Tuesday that this year’s celebration of Victory Day on August 5 would depend on the epidemiological situation in the country.

“We have prepared several versions of the programme, but as the date gets closer we will have a clearer picture of potential risks,” Medved said.

Health Minister Vili Beros said that the national coronavirus crisis management team was discussing measures for the forthcoming celebrations of the Operation Storm anniversary and the Assumption, adding that everything would be different this year and that a final decision would depend on the epidemiological situation.

This year will be the 25th-anniversary commemorating the military victory on 5 August 1995, known as Operation Storm, when the Croatian army took over a self-proclaimed Serb entity in Croatia.

Operation Storm began at 5 am on 4 August 1995 and in just 84 hours 10,500 square kilometers had been liberated by the 200,000 Croatian soldiers who took part in the operation.

Commenting on the €22 billion which will be made available to Croatia by the European Union, Medved said that this was “indeed a very important financial injection” that would be used for priorities, notably for development and the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.