Discovery of Remains in Zubin Potok Increases Pressure on Serbia to Open Archives

The remains found in Zubin Potok have reignited a fierce diplomatic dispute over the fate of people who went missing during the conflict. Senior state officials are urging the international community to step up pressure on Serbia to release its military archives so that the fate of every person still listed as missing can be clarified.

During the presentation of a report by the Government Commission on Missing Persons, based on four weeks of excavations in the Zubin Potok area that uncovered the remains of 23 people, acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti stressed: “The international powers must intensify pressure on our northern neighbor.”

Several embassies of Quint countries in Kosovo have also responded to the appeal. The United States Embassy confirmed to RTK that it consistently supports initiatives to shed light on war crimes and end the wait for victims’ families.

A statement from the U.S. Embassy said: “Officially, the U.S. Embassy continues to support efforts to investigate war crimes and secure justice for victims’ families. Every family has the right to receive answers about the fate of their loved ones.”

The German Embassy adopted a similar position, referring to the Declaration on Missing Persons approved by Kosovo and Serbia in 2023.

One of the responsibilities of this commission, which includes both Kosovo and Serbia, is to ensure access to all domestic and international documentation related to the cases. “We have called on all parties to provide access to accurate and reliable information about missing persons and suspected mass graves,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the British Embassy said it stands with the families of those who went missing during the war in Kosovo and welcomed the discovery of human remains in Zubin Potok.

Following the discoveries in Kalludër and Jabukë, the Government Commission on Missing Persons announced that further excavations are expected to be carried out at other locations in Kosovo.

Kushtrim Gara said: “Over the course of eight months in 2026, we have around 19 to 20 sites identified for assessment excavations. There are also a number of cases or locations for which warrants have already been obtained from the competent courts through the Prosecution’s War Crimes Department.”

For his part, Ahmet Grajçevci, a representative of the Coordinating Council for Missing Persons and War Crimes, said the international community should take a tougher stance toward Serbia, particularly regarding the demand to open its archives.

He said: “This has been requested and signed, but I have always been skeptical, since Brussels, that these archives would genuinely be sought. Those archives have either been hidden or destroyed. According to the documents we have managed to obtain, everything is clearly recorded. The issue of missing persons was transformed from a humanitarian matter into a political one. Serbia now continually exploits this issue for political purposes, and the international community should not have allowed this.”

More than 1,600 people remain missing since the war in Kosovo. For their families, every newly discovered grave and every additional document offers hope of receiving the answer they have been awaiting for more than two decades.