Kijevo | |
---|---|
Village | |
Location of Kijevo in Croatia | |
Coordinates: 43°58′N 16°21′E / 43.967°N 16.350°E | |
Country | Croatia |
County | Šibenik-Knin |
Government | |
• Mayor | Ivan Stjepan Bajan (HDZ) |
Area | |
• Total | 74.37 km2 (28.71 sq mi) |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 417 |
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
Kijevo is a village and a municipality in the Dalmatian hinterland, southeast of Knin in the Šibenik-Knin County in Croatia. The population of the municipality is 417 (2011), with 100% declaring themselves Croats.
Kijevo lies underneath the Dinara mountain, near the source of river Cetina. It is located on the State route D1 between towns of Vrlika and Knin.
Thirty-four people from Kijevo died in the First World War.
In World War II, Kijevo became part of the Independent State of Croatia. In the spring of 1942, the town was attacked by Yugoslav Partisans. The attack resulted in approximately half the town's population fleeing the town, and resettling in Slavonia and Syrmia. On January 27, 1943 Kijevo was attacked by Chetniks at a time when there was no military defence in the town, resulting in the deaths of 45 civilians. A total of 209 people from Kijevo died during the war.
Kijevo gained infamy during the Croatian War of Independence in 1990 and 1991 when it became the site of the 1991 siege of Kijevo, which involved the Yugoslav People's Army under Ratko Mladić and the forces of SAO Krajina under Milan Martić who encircled the Croat-inhabited village, defended by an isolated outpost of the Croatian Police. By the end of the year, the enclave was attacked and overrun and the bulk of the population left after the artillery had destroyed much of their settlements. The ethnic cleansing of Croats in Kijevo was later prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.