When a swift Croatian offensive in May 1995 put western Slavonia region back into Croatian control, he urgently telephoned Slobodan Milošević, asking if he will defend Serbia's "brethren in need". On 31 July 1995, he traveled to the Krajina capital Knin with Ratko Mladić (currently on trial for war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), to assure the rebel Serbs of military and religious support. However, Krajina ceased to exist just three months later, following Operation Storm that resulted in 200,000–250,000 Serbian refugees.