Serbian TV showed images of a damaged fuel depot in Prahovo RELATED VIDEO NATO is preparing for peacekeeping by conducting live fire exercises in Macedonia. CNN's Kasra Naji takes a look. (May 18) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Rusty Dornin reports on Albanian villagers' fight for their land (May 17) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Walter Rodgers explains how the Yugoslav media help garner support for Milosevic (May 17) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K To view the latest video streams on the strikes in Kosovo, use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the video gallery.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K IMAGE GALLERY A cracked window to a war To the corners of the world: The flight of Kosovo's refugees  ALSO: Refugees allege abuse by Serb police 2 freed Yugoslav POWs 'in good health'  THE DELUGE OF REFUGEES: Where are they going?  MESSAGE BOARD: China tomorrow Crisis in Kosovo  MAPS: NATO officials describe the air campaign  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: NATO at 50 Strike on Yugoslavia

May 18, 1999
Web posted at: 1:37 p.m. EDT (1737 GMT)

In this story: Yugoslavs 'ready' to deal? Diplomatic efforts continue RELATED STORIES, SITES

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- NATO officials vowed Tuesday to intensify the air campaign against the Serb military amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts to end the crisis.

And while NATO insisted the bombing would continue until Yugoslavia agreed to its demands, word came from its Foreign Ministry that Yugoslavia may be ready to "cut a deal."

NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said allied pilots carried out 556 sorties, including 190 strike sorties and 62 suppression-of-air-defense sorties on day 55 of the air campaign against Yugoslavia.

"Despite the bad weather, we were still able to successfully hit a number of ground targets in Kosovo," Shea said.

NATO bombs also struck military and industrial targets elsewhere in Yugoslavia, including a highway bridge on the main road from Belgrade to Nis.

David Scheffer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large who specializes in war crimes, appeared at the NATO briefing with Shea and accused the Serb military of gross atrocities.

"With the exception of Rwanda in 1994 and Cambodia in 1975, you would be hard-pressed to find a crime scene anywhere in the world, since World War II, where a defenseless civilian population has been assaulted with such ferocity and criminal intent, and suffered so many multiple violations of international humanitarian law in such a short period of time, as in Kosovo since mid-March 1999," Scheffer said.

He also accused the Serb military of playing a shell game with refugees and putting them in harm's way.

Yugoslavs 'ready' to deal?

An official at the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry issued a "categorical denial" of those charges Tuesday, and said Belgrade wants to find a way to end the crisis in Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians seek independence or autonomy from Serbia.

Nebojsa Vujovic said Yugoslavia is "ready to cut a deal," although he offered no evidence that PresidentSlobodan Milosevic was prepared to meet NATO's five conditions. Among them are a complete withdrawal of troops from Kosovo and acceptance of an armed peacekeeping force.

Vujovic was not specific about what concessions Yugoslavia would be willing to make. Yugoslavia has flatly rejected an armed international peacekeeping mission with NATO at its core, one of NATO's strongest demands.

CNN's Walter Rodgers said in Belgrade that the Yugoslav government, believing NATO's unity to be fraying, appeared to be "positioning itself to claim a moral victory" over the alliance because of the increasing numbers of civilians killed in NATO attacks.

Diplomatic efforts continue

On the diplomatic front, Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin was to visit Belgrade on Wednesday, while diplomats from seven Western powers and Russia meet in Bonn, Germany.

Chernomyrdin was also meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari in Helsinki on Tuesday.

Russia and the rest of NATO have been at odds over the bombing campaign.

NATO insists that the bombing will continue until Milosevic agrees to its demands, while Russia has backed Yugoslavia in calling for a halt to the attacks before such conditions as troop withdrawals from Kosovo are met.

"There is nothing more that we would like than to stop the bombing, but as we said earlier ... there has to be a clear sign from President Milosevic's side that he is willing to accept these various conditions and really cooperate with us and find a solution," said Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek, chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). "So far as I can see, we haven't seen these signs."

Correspondent Walter Rodgers and Brussels Bureau Chief Patricia Kelly contributed to this report.

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