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May 19, 1999
Web posted at: 2:16 p.m. EDT (1816 GMT)

In this story: Diplomacy ongoing Bombs hurting Yugoslav morale RELATED STORIES, SITES

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- Before a meeting with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday, Russian Balkans envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin called on both NATO and Yugoslavia to end all hostilities over Kosovo.

"To stop everything, for Milosevic, for all of us, it is very important to add that once more they should stop everything," said Chernomyrdin. "Do a pause, everything, although most important is that the bombing stops. Stop killing people."

Chernomyrdin arrived in Belgrade from Helsinki, Finland, where he held meetings with Finnish President and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.

As Chernomyrdin prepared to meet with Milosevic, Serb media reported that six people were killed in NATO airstrikes Wednesday, including two inmates at a prison in Istok.

NATO missiles caused "great material damage," the state-controlled media reported.

While diplomatic efforts to end the crisis continued, NATO members appeared divided on whether to deploy ground troops to help with the fighting in Kosovo or to continue the strategy of relying solely on air power.

The debate flared earlier this week when British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook pressed for a deployment of ground troops for combat. Current plans call for troops to be sent only as a peacekeeping force if a settlement is reached with Milosevic.

Other officials have balked at the idea of combat troops.

"I'm against the use of ground troops not the least because the current NATO strategy that we have developed in unison is starting to work and supports a political solution," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said after meeting with NATO officials in Brussels on Wednesday.

In the United States, President Bill Clinton has offered mixed signals, saying that the alliance should not "take any options off the table ... but we ought to stay with the strategy we have and work it through the end."

But the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, determined not to give Milosevic a veto, argued it may soon be time to take advantage of damage done by NATO's air campaign.

NATO is "not going to halt Milosevic from pursuing his violent repression by a dialogue in which we endeavor to point out to him the error of his ways," Cook told the British Parliament Wednesday. "He will only abandon his plans to pocket Kosovo for the Serbs if he knows that we are determined to maintain the military campaign and prevail."

Cook is scheduled to present his case in Washington on Thursday. Meanwhile, support for ground troops has begun to surface elsewhere.

Italian Prime Minster Massimo D'Alema has a proposal for NATO ground forces if -- after a pause in the bombing -- Belgrade fails to withdraw its forces from Kosovo. And in Washington, a number of prominent Republicans are pushing for deployment, along with former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Colin Powell and Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa.

"We should be preparing right now, setting appropriations, for the introductions of Bradley fighting vehicles, tanks, armored personnel carriers and ground forces into Kosovo," Harkin said.

NATO downplayed the division.

"I don't believe there are any differences in what people are saying," said NATO spokesman Jamie Shea. "We all agree that ground troops should not be introduced until Yugoslav forces are retreating. We also all agree that ground troops will not be used for fighting."

NATO's task at hand, Shea said, is to continue the air campaign and to prepare for the eventual introduction of the peacekeeping force on the ground.

Diplomacy ongoing

The debate over ground troops simmered against the backdrop of continuing diplomatic efforts to end the Kosovo conflict. In Helsinki, Finnish, Russian and U.S. officials ended two days of talks with no final proposal.

Nevertheless, Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari said he was "very satisfied with the talks."

While Chernomyrdin traveled to Belgrade for talks with Yugoslav officials, Talbott was in Bonn, Germany, for a meeting of the Group of Eight nations.

Russian Balkans envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin arrived in Belgrade for talks with Yugoslav officials on Wednesday, while U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott was heading for Bonn, Germany, for a meeting of the Group of Eight nations.

Talbott, Chernomyrdin and Ahtisaari are expected to meet again in Moscow at an unspecified date.

Yugoslav Foreign Ministry spokesman Nebosja Vujovic said Tuesday his government was "ready to cut a deal" to end the conflict, but he offered no details on compromises Milosevic might be willing to make.

NATO's conditions for an end to the bombing include a complete withdrawal of Yugoslav and Serb forces from Kosovo, an international peacekeeping force with NATO at its core, and a safe return of Kosovar refugees. Yugoslavia has said it will accept only a lightly armed force in Kosovo under United Nations control.

Bombs hurting Yugoslav morale

Serbian TV showed images of a damaged petroleum storage facility in Belgrade

And while officials tried to hammer out a political settlement to the crisis, NATO's planes launched a 56th day of bombing in Yugoslavia.

NATO said on Wednesday that even though weather again forced the cancellation of the majority of strike missions, it hit several targets.

NATO said it destroyed six Galeb aircraft on the ground north of Prizren and struck ground force artillery positions.

Other targets included a petroleum storage facility in Belgrade, an ammunition plant at Valjevo, army facilities at Sabac and Vranje and radio relay sites at Loznica and Prepolac.

Serbian television said NATO missiles struck a fuel depot and a sugar factory in the southwest Belgrade suburb of Cukarica, but no one was hurt. The Batajnica military airport outside the capital was also reported to be hit.

Earlier attacks targeted at least four cities and a highway bridge on the main road from Belgrade to Nis, Yugoslavia's third largest city. Yugoslav media said one woman was killed and 12 people were injured in the strikes.

The bombing is taking a toll on a human level as well, British Air Marshal Sir John Day said.

"We continue to receive reports that the morale of some elements is being damaged," Day said. "They are being affected by the impunity with which NATO aircraft can operate over Kosovo and Serbia, the accuracy and the growing knowledge... of deployed locations. In summary, NATO has eroded the capability of Milosevic's war machine and it is being further reduced as each day goes by."

Correspondents Matthew Chance, David Ensor and Walter Rodgers contributed to this report.

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