Mitrovica, Kosovo
A road barricade set up in the divided town. Serbian armed forces were on ‘the highest level’ of alert, said the defence minister, Miloš Vučević, highlighting the Balkan country’s increasingly strained relations with neighbouring Kosovo over recent shootings and blockades. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade has refused to recognise it and encouraged Kosovo’s 120,000 ethnic Serbs to defy Pristina’s authority – especially in the north where ethnic Serbs make up the majority.
