The Serb health minister said three people were killed when a NATO bomb hit a hospital in Belgrade RELATED VIDEO CNN's Brent Sadler shows damage that Yugoslavia says NATO inflicted on a civilian hospital (May 20) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Amanda Kibel talks with survivors and eyewitnesses to an alleged massacre (May 19) WARNING: Contains video that some may find disturbing Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Albania is shoring up defenses at its border with Yugoslavia -- no longer satisfied with letting individual villages be responsible for their own safety. CNN's Rusty Dornin is there. (May 19) 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:  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 20, 1999
Web posted at: 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 GMT)

In this story: Britain pulls carrier from Adriatic Italy suggests cease-fire as talks continue RELATED STORIES, SITES

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- NATO continued its air raids against Yugoslavia with numerous strikes around Serbia and the Serbian province of Kosovo, including an attack on a Belgrade district that Yugoslav authorities say hit a hospital, killing three.

Meanwhile, Britain said Thursday it will withdraw its aircraft carrier from the NATO fleet off Yugoslavia and replace its largely defensive air wing with more strike aircraft. Diplomatic efforts to end the nine-week-old war were set to continue in Moscow on Thursday, and Italy's premier said NATO should agree to stop bombing if a settlement appears near.

NATO continued its attacks on Yugoslavia on Thursday with its closest strikes around Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, since its accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy nearly two weeks ago. Heavy anti-aircraft fire ripped into the night sky on the city's outskirts, followed by strong explosions and bright orange flashes near the city center.

In Dedinje, an affluent section of Belgrade, Serbian government Health Minister Leposava Milicevic said a hospital was hit, killing three patients. Yugoslav officials said two NATO missiles struck the hospital.

NATO would say only that one of its laser-guided bombs went astray, hitting about 1,500 feet (460 meters) from its target. NATO again stressed that it is aiming to hit only military targets.

Journalists taken to the scene overnight reported extensive damage to the hospital's children's ward and neurology and gynecological departments. Journalists saw two corpses in the hospital's wreckage.

NATO also hit airfields in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, and Batajnica; a radio relay site at Loznica, and military communications stations in Belgrade and Stara Pazova, and radio broadcast facilities at Serbovan, Subotica and Kula.

Other targets included Yugoslav Army facilities at Belgrade, Gnjilane and Istok; an ammunition plant at Baric; oil depots at Sombor and Batajnica; and tanks and military vehicles in Kosovo.

Britain pulls carrier from Adriatic

Amid the new raids, Britain announced it was pulling the carrier HMS Invincible out of the Adriatic Sea and bringing the ship home. Fighters flying from Invincible have spent much of the NATO air war in a defensive role, as protection against Yugoslav fighters that have rarely risen to challenge the allied assault.

"There will not be a direct replacement, nor will one be needed as the number of flights from her has steadily decreased," Defense Secretary George Robertson said.

Britain moved the ship into the Adriatic in early April, where it joined U.S. and French carriers as part of the NATO strike force. "NATO needed additional fighter assets so that other fast jet aircraft could be re-roled from air defense to bombing missions," said Air Marshal John Day, Britain's deputy chief of staff.

But the increasing tempo of NATO's air war against Yugoslavia now requires attack planes more than fighter jets to protect them from Yugoslav air defenses, Day said.

To replace the fighter aircraft on board the carrier, Britain will move 12 Tornado attack jets from bases in Germany to the French island of Corsica in the Mediterranean. That move will allow the planes to fly more frequent raids against Yugoslavia, Day said.

In addition, Britain will replace Invincible with the helicopter training ship HMS Argus. Its complement of helicopters will allow it both to aid the relief effort for Kosovo refugees in Yugoslavia's neighboring countries and assist the oil embargo against Yugoslavia by monitoring shipping lanes, Robertson said.

In Washington, Pentagon officials say NATO bombs have destroyed as much as 90 percent of the Yugoslav army's artillery in Kosovo. The guns were massed on Kosovo's borders, apparently in anticipation of a NATO ground invasion, according to Pentagon officials.

"The massed artillery is relatively easy for NATO planes to target," said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. "And we have been targeting that, and have now, we believe, removed the majority of the artillery in Kosovo -- perhaps as much as 90 percent of the artillery in Kosovo in the last several weeks -- by attacking massed artillery along the borders."

Italy suggests cease-fire as talks continue

Italy's prime minister, meanwhile, suggested that NATO could stop its raids, at least temporarily, if Yugoslavia appeared ready to agree to a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

"Clearly what we suggest is not a unilateral cease-fire," Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema said Thursday. "But the possibility that faced with a concrete political perspective, weapons may cease to be used, there might be a pause in the military action to verify whether the conditions are there for a solution."

If Yugoslavia rejects a proposed settlement, NATO would continue its attacks, D'Alema said.

He made his comments at a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, with Javier Solana, the alliance's secretary-general, as Western and Russian diplomats convened in Moscow for another round of talks.

Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, the European Union's representative on Yugoslavia, is expected to meet with Russian special envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin late Thursday. The U.S. representative, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, arrives Thursday evening. It is not known whether he will meet with Chernomyrdin Thursday night or Friday.

Chernomyrdin held more than seven hours of talks with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday, pushing a plan put forward by the Group of Eight countries -- Russia and the seven top industrialized nations -- to end the conflict over Kosovo. Chernomyrdin is expected to return to Belgrade early next week.

Chernomyrdin, left, met with Milosevic on Wednesday night in Belgrade

Sticking points in the talks remain coordinating the timing of a bombing pause and Yugoslav troop withdrawals. Russia continues to demand the pause in bombing take place before working out details of a troop withdrawal. NATO wants troops out before the bombing stops.

A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official tells CNN he is "not that optimistic" about what was accomplished by Chernomyrdin in Belgrade, but said "small steps, small movements" were made.

Chernomyrdin and Milosevic reportedly agreed that any peace deal should be based on the principles of the G-8 plan, but that details must be negotiated directly with the United Nations. Milosevic's office said "the solution could be found only politically and within the United Nations, and with the active and direct participation of Yugoslavia, starting from the principles of G-8."

The G-8 plan calls for the withdrawal of Yugoslav "military, police and paramilitary forces" from Kosovo. NATO seeks a total withdrawal of all the 40,000-strong Serb forces, including regular troops.

The G-8 plan also calls for the deployment of "international civil and security presences," while NATO demands a well- armed international force with NATO at its core -- something Milosevic has vehemently rejected in the past.

Correspondents Walter Rodgers, Brent Sadler, Jill Dougherty and Jonathan Karl contributed to this report.

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