A cloud of smoke rises from the ruins of the bombed Serbian TV station in Belgrade, while NATO leaders gather in Washington at the opening of NATO's 50th anniversary summit. RELATED VIDEO: Watch Serbian TV go off the air during the attack, described by CNN's Brent Sadler (April 23) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Jane Arraf reports on one family's ordeal (April 22) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Nic Robertson reports on the opposition in Montenegro (April 22) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K To view the latest video streams on the strikes in Yugoslavia, use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the video gallery.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K IMAGE GALLERY: Images of NATO bomb attack on Serbian TV headquarters The Kosovo refugees The Serbs and Kosovo  ALSO: Kosovo refugees tell of 100-mile trek to Albanian border U.S.: Serb forces weaker but 'still responding'  MESSAGE BOARD: Crisis in Kosovo  MAPS: NATO officials describe the air campaign  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: NATO at 50

April 23, 1999
Web posted at: 1:04 p.m. EDT (1704 GMT)

In this story: NATO aims to block oil supply Allies: Russian initiative falls short RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- NATO attacked targets it considers part of the political power structure of Yugoslavia for the third day in a row Friday, hitting the studios of Serbian television in a strike that killed at least 10 people.

As NATO's leaders gathered in Washington for a summit meeting marking the alliance's 50th anniversary, their air forces and navies launched the heaviest night of attacks on Belgrade, Yugoslavia's capital, since the strikes began March 24.

Friday's attacks on Radio Television of Serbia came after a Thursday strike that destroyed one of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's homes in Belgrade, and Wednesday's attack on the headquarters of Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party.

"There will be no sanctuary for these aspects of the regime that are spreading hatred and creating this political environment for repression," NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said.

CNN's Alessio Vinci reported that a Yugoslav government official said at least 10 people have died and 18 have been taken to hospitals with serious burns. Twenty people were missing. CNN's Brent Sadler said as many as 100 people were inside the building when the strike occurred.

Goran Matic, a Yugoslav government official, said the NATO attack was a "criminal act." He said the Yugoslav government considered those responsible "murderers."

The station resumed broadcasting from another location less than six hours later.

NATO has hinted that Serbian television would become a target. Shea said it has been used to incite nationalist passions in Yugoslavia for nearly a decade.

"Radio Television Serbia, despite the appearance, is an instrument of war," he said. "It has nothing to do with journalism as you or I would recognize that."

Added Col. Konrad Freytag, NATO's military spokesman, "We are attacking the control system that is used to manipulate the military and police forces."

Asked whether NATO would hit the RTS signal's new source, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said, "Stay tuned."

Attacking targets like RTS helps achieve one of three goals Shea said the NATO leaders gathering in Washington have set.

In addition to weakening the "central nervous system" of the Milosevic government, Shea said NATO leaders want to step up the air campaign against Yugoslav forces in Kosovo and isolate Yugoslavia from the rest of the world, especially economically.

Of particular concern is Yugoslavia's supply of oil. NATO raids have wiped out the country's crude oil refining capacity, and Shea said Yugoslav army units in Kosovo have been forced to cancel some operations due to fuel shortages.

An injured employee of the station dangles from the rubble

"There must be no soft underbelly where he can get in through the back door what he cannot get through the front door," Shea said.

NATO accuses Yugoslavia's Serb leadership of carrying out a campaign against the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo, a province of Serbia. About a third of the province's population has fled Yugoslavia in the last month.

"Images of burned hopes and destroyed villages recall scenes we had hoped we would never see again," NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said Friday in opening the conference. "Milosevic must know there is no place for his policy in Europe on the eve of the 21st century."

NATO's air war seeks to force Milosevic to accept a peace agreement for the province that includes the safe return of refugees and an international peacekeeping force to protect them. It is that provision that Yugoslav officials have rejected, comparing it to occupation.

"There will be a clear message from this meeting, without a doubt -- a message of resolve and determination by all 19 allies to see this through, no matter how difficult and how long it takes," Shea said.

Reports that NATO is preparing for a ground attack have circulated widely in recent weeks, but Shea said the air campaign alone is taking a toll on Yugoslavia.

"There is no need to change strategy. That strategy is working," Shea said, adding, "There is no quicker or more feasible option at this time."

The U.S. and Britain, meanwhile, turned aside a report from former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin that Milosevic has accepted the placement of an "international presence in Kosovo under U.N. auspices."

The agreement calls for "the participation of Russia," Russian news agency Itar-Tass said, but it did not spell out whether the "international presence" would be military or civilian. Nor did it say whether NATO-member countries would be involved.

Yugoslav sources told CNN the plan calls for an "unarmed presence" that would exclude NATO countries -- with the possible exception of Greece, which has not participated in the NATO campaign.

U.S. President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair both called Milosevic's proposal a "ploy" designed to divide NATO allies before the Washington summit, which opened Friday morning.

"Obviously, we welcome the Russian efforts to try to achieve a diplomatic settlement here, but so far we have not seen much Serb flexibility," Bacon said.

Shea, meanwhile, said any peacekeeping force "has got to be a robust force. This has got to be a force that works."

Otherwise, he said, it would end up being an observer mission that does not have the confidence of the Kosovars it is supposed to protect.

"So NATO would, yes, like to constitute the core of that force. We have demonstrated in Bosnia that we can do the job," he said.