December 15, 1999
Web posted at: 5:42 p.m. EST (2242 GMT)

In this story: Some unaware, some too old to use routes out Russians reject Vollebaek offer RELATED STORIES, SITES

GROZNY, Russia (CNN) -- Russian tanks and troops stormed central Grozny late Wednesday but were driven back and suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Chechen rebels, eyewitnesses said. Previously, Russian commanders had insisted they were not ordering an all-out assault on the rebellious republic's capital.

News agencies reported that a Russian armored column rolled into Grozny on Wednesday evening and was surrounded by rebel fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades. The bodies of several dead Russian soldiers were seen sprawled around burning tanks and armored personnel carriers near the city center, witnesses said.

MESSAGE BOARD Russia's future

The attack marked the first time Russian forces had tried to move into the Chechen capital since they surrounded Grozny last month.

Earlier Wednesday, Gen. Valery Manilov, first deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, said in Moscow that Grozny would fall to Russian troops in "a question of days," and the rebels would be gone completely by February.

Russia pursued the rebels into Chechnya in September after the militants twice invaded the neighboring republic of Dagestan. Russia also blames the rebels for a series of deadly bombings in Russian cities.

Rebel commander Lechi Islamov said the militants were holding their own against relentless attacks around Grozny.

Chechen civilians in the capital were faring much worse.

"There are no windows, no roofs. There is nothing there," said a woman who fled the city on one of the safe corridors maintained by Russian troops.

Russian forces advanced into central Grozny on Wednesday

But few civilians have made use of the escape routes, either because they are too old or infirm -- or they simply don't know they can.

"They are talking (about the safe corridors) on the television, but (the citizens) cannot hear about this while they're sitting in the cellar," one man said.

Still others have heard of the corridors -- and simply don't believe they exist.

"They say people tried to leave and got killed," said Galya, a young mother with her 7-year-old daughter. "Better to die here than to die on the road."

As many as 40,000 Chechens are believed still holed up in the city. The rest have fled the fighting, many to the neighboring republic of Ingushetia, which is struggling under the strain of more than 200,000 extra people.

Klavdia Ananyevna, 65, lives with eight others in a dark cellar in Grozny. "We can't get out of here," she said. "We will stay." She said people are eating pigeons for lack of food.

Under ever-increasing Western pressure to end the fighting, Russia rejected an offer from Knut Vollebaek, chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to mediate a cease-fire.

Vollebaek arrived in Dagestan Tuesday for a first-hand look at the situation there. He was to visit refugee camps in Chechnya on Wednesday, but fog delayed his trip.

Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was to fly to the troubled North Caucasus region on Wednesday, said he was prepared to meet with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, but only to discuss evacuation of civilians from Grozny and not an end to the fighting.

Maskhadov said Wednesday, according to Interfax news agency, that he did not rule out any deal that could bring peace closer in Chechnya.

Russia has consistently said it would end its military campaign in Chechnya when the rebels are gone from the region. A 1994-1996 campaign against the rebels ended badly for the Russians -- thousands of men were killed, and Chechnya was left outside Moscow's control.

Correspondent Matthew Chance, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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