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.