KSF soldiers confused the route and mistakenly entered North Mitrovica / KFOR reacts

2025-10-17 10:18:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

KSF soldiers confused the route and mistakenly entered North Mitrovica / KFOR

NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, said it welcomes the Kosovo authorities' compliance with the agreement regarding the deployment of Kosovo Security Force (KSF) members in the north of the country.

This stance of KFOR comes after on October 16, for several minutes, several KSF vehicles had stopped in North Mitrovica. The KSF and Kosovo Police said that the KSF troops confused the road. KFOR said that it accepts the statements made by the authorities that the KSF unit mistakenly entered North Mitrovica and quickly left from there.

“KFOR welcomes the continued respect by the KSF of the agreement not to deploy KSF personnel to northern Kosovo without prior notice and approval from the KFOR Commander. This position was reiterated during the telephone conversation between the KFOR Commander and the KSF Commander held on 16 October. The KSF Commander stressed that the KSF unit had mistakenly temporarily deviated from its route,” KFOR said in a response sent to Radio Free Europe.

The KSF said that its members with several vehicles mistakenly entered the north of the country, after they had confused the direction of movement. According to this force, the incident occurred at around 10:30 on Thursday, during the movement of the convoy from Istog to the KSF barracks in Mitrovica.

Meanwhile, the deputy director of the Kosovo Police for the northern region, Veton Elshani, told Radio Free Europe that members of the KSF “lost their way, their GPS navigation took them to the north by mistake.” The incident prompted a reaction from Serbian officials, who described it as a violation of the agreement on the deployment of the KSF in the north, while the Serbian List – the largest Serb party in Kosovo that enjoys the support of Belgrade – said that the incident had increased tensions.

The deployment of the KSF to the north of the country is possible only with the prior consent of the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, based on the 2013 commitment by the Kosovo government to NATO. This commitment, given in a letter from former Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi to the then NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, remains in force today, despite changes in the KSF’s mandate.

Otherwise, for the last time, with the consent of KFOR, the KSF was in the north on July 29 of this year, in an operation when it found the lifeless body of a person who had jumped from a bridge into Lake Ujman. The KSF is in the process of transforming itself into an army, following the approved legal changes. This process is expected to be completed in 2028. /REL