December 28, 1999
Web posted at: 12:55 p.m. EST (1755 GMT)

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From staff and wire reports

GROZNY, Russia (CNN) -- Russian commanders said ground forces had advanced to within several kilometers of the center of the Chechen capital, and federal air forces attacked rebel-held areas in the southern mountains of the breakaway republic.

But there was little sign that the troops, meeting fierce resistance from Chechen rebels, would capture Grozny "within a matter of days" as predicted by Russian Gen. Valery Manilov.

VIDEO Home for Russian soldiers in Chechnya is a mud hole. CNN's Steve Harrigan pays a visit there. (December 28) QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD Russia's future

Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said Russian troops and a pro- Moscow band of Chechen fighters had occupied outlying regions of Grozny and were advancing on the center from all sides. Manilov said Russian troops were 2 or 3 kilometers (between 1 and 2 miles) from the center.

Sergeyev said the troops were facing "fierce resistance" but that they had managed to "drastically change" the situation in the city. He gave no details to back up his claim that the forces had achieved a breakthrough.

At the same time, Sergeyev precluded storming the city with massed infantry units, saying Russia would not risk the kind of massive losses the military incurred in the 1994-96 Chechen war. An estimated 30,000 civilians remain trapped in the city.

Mountain airstrike on president's bunker?

Meanwhile, unnamed Russian military sources claimed Tuesday that federal bombing raids in southern Chechnya had destroyed the command bunker of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, the Interfax news agency reported. The report could not be confirmed, and Manilov denied it. Maskhadov's whereabouts were not known. According to some reports, he is in Grozny.

Russian jets targeted several rebel positions in the south, hitting the Argun Gorge and Shatoi village on Monday night. Both are located along crucial supply routes the rebels had been using to ferry supplies into Chechnya from Georgia, the only independent nation outside Russia that borders the breakaway region. Federal forces have blocked the routes, and rebels have been counterattacking in efforts to free up the flow of supplies.

A senior rebel official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported differences among rebel commanders over strategy in Grozny. Some commanders want to quit the city because the Russians control the surrounding heights, but Maskhadov wants to continue defending the city for two or three weeks to prevent the Russians from reaping a quick political victory, the official said.

Reporter: Bombs hitting civilian homes

In an interview published Tuesday, Sergeyev rejected Western claims that Russia was breaking international law with bombings and artillery strikes that were excessive and that needlessly endangered civilians.

"I don't know what limits we have exceeded," Sergeyev told the Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) military daily. "We are handling our domestic problem of destroying terrorists. This task is fulfilled by both federal troops and, mind you, the Chechen people."

A journalist in the central Chechen mountains told CNN that airstrikes in the area had indiscriminately targeted civilian houses.

"During the night in the village of Shatoi the fighter bombers came several times ... and all the population had to flee," said Le Figaro reporter Renaud Girard.

Russian forces entered Chechnya in September, pursuing militants who had invaded the neighboring Russian region of Dagestan a month earlier and who were also blamed for a series of fatal apartment building bombings.

Reporter Renaud Girard and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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