Sarajevans mark siege anniversary with thoughts of Ukraine

By SABINA NIKSIC
Associated Press

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Sarajevo is paying a subdued tribute to the resilience of its citizens who survived the longest military siege in modern history, and commemorating thousands of others who did not. Many of the survivors said they found the 30th anniversary of the start of the siege of the Bosnian capital particularly hard because they are marking it against the backdrop of what they describe as similar suffering being inflicted on civilians in Ukraine by Russia’s occupying army. Bosnian Serb forces, armed and backed by neighboring Serbia, laid siege to Sarajevo on April 6, 1992, during the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia. About 350,000 residents were trapped in the city amid daily shelling and sniper attacks for almost four years.