Vukovar, Yugoslavia in 1992 during the Croatian War of Independence.
The Battle of Vukovar was an 87-day siege of Vukovar in eastern Croatia by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), supported by various paramilitary forces from Serbia, between August and November 1991.
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During the battle, shells and rockets were fired into the town at a rate of up to 12,000 a day. At the time, it was the fiercest and most protracted battle seen in Europe since 1945, and Vukovar was the first major European town to be entirely destroyed since the Second World War.
A 2013 discussion on Reddit includes analyses of this and other photos found in this collection, and suggests that the Santa photo may have been Yugoslav staged propaganda.
[Image found here indicates a date of 1991.]
Tacky Raccoons 
Propaganda is every-fucking-where.
A look at giggle earth shows reconstruction and calmness on the streets, but I have little knowledge of the area and the influences. Any suggestions for educating myself on that subject?
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Dan–
There was a lot of stuff going on in the early 90’s that was under-reported in the US, especially the events leading up to the collapse of the USSR. Going through Reddit comments from ten years ago was interesting – the Europeans were following everything closely, and the comments from Americans were spotted almost immediately because many of us (including me) had no idea what was going down until the Berlin Wall fell.
Best suggestion I have is to start with Wikipedia, read it with a big ol’ honkin’ salt lick, then search foreign websites. Google Translate helps. Plug in the site URL and it’ll translate most web pages. Make sure your anti-malware is up to date – I set off a couple of alarms trying to figure out the story behind the Santa pic. Hope that helps.
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Speaking of propaganda, this compilation is a jaw dropper. People believe this garbage.
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Yes, good suggestions.
We in the US have not been given a full picture of world events in my lifetime.
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Walter Cronkite accidentally taught me that lesson.
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If you’re speaking of his famous mumble about the Tet offensive during Vietnam, yes. I could not believe what I heard, and I was just a kid. I am still pissed about that, but that is the norm in broadcast news; worse now than then.
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That was the one, It would be another ten years or so before I started paying closer attention.
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