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Damage in Nis RELATED VIDEO CNN's Brent Sadler is allowed into Pristina and describes 'a scene of devastation' in Kosovo's capital (April 7) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's John King reports NATO responded to cease-fire offer with an emphatic no (April 7) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Mike Hanna reports on the political position of Montenegro (April 7) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Brent Sadler reports on NATO's refusal to halt the bombing (April 7) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K To view the latest video streams on the strikes in Yugoslavia, use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the video gallery.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K IMAGE GALLERY: Burning flags and rock concerts: Protesting the NATO strikes Devastation of Kosovo capital The Serbs and Kosovo  ALSO Will Yugoslavia free captured soldiers? Kosovar refugee wants to go back home NATO struggling to keep refugee camps sanitary Russian aid both blessed and cursed  MESSAGE BOARD Crisis in Kosovo  MAPS NATO officials describe attacks from day one through day fourteen

April 7, 1999
Web posted at: 6:21 p.m. EDT (2221 GMT)

In this story: NATO rejects cease-fire More aid for refugees Captured U.S. soldiers soon free? Britain lashes out at Milosevic Serbian TV airs footage of damage RELATED STORIES, SITES

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- NATO launched another wave of aerial attacks against Yugoslavia Wednesday, including strikes carried out by warplanes from the U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.

Two large explosions jolted Belgrade's city center late in the day, sending a huge white cloud of smoke billowing over the Yugoslav capital.

CNN's Alessio Vinci, reporting from Belgrade, said the blasts shook buildings as far as a mile away.

In Brussels, NATO claimed success in its air campaign against Yugoslavia, saying it achieved a "major breakthrough" against Serb ground forces in Kosovo by hitting an armored column involved in the crackdown against ethnic Albanians in the Serb province.

Air Commodore David Wilby of Britain said the last round of airstrikes had hit 28 fixed-target areas, including an armored convoy of between seven to 12 armored vehicles.

At a separate news conference on Wednesday, NATO Supreme Commander Gen. Wesley Clark said the military alliance would maintain its "iron grip" and would go after a full array of military forces and "well-concealed" storage depots.

CNN Correspondent Brent Sadler described Kosovo's capital, Pristina, as a "ghost town' Wednesday, after being allowed by Serb authorities to assess some of the devastation there for the first time.

Sadler said there was heavy bombing damage to a postal and telecommunications building in central Pristina and a huge fire at a fuel depot. Sadler's report was monitored by Serb authorities.

'No time to pause'

Earlier in the day, the Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug reported that at least 10 civilians had been killed and eight others seriously injured in airstrikes in Pristina.

The United States appeared to put more pressure on Yugoslavia Wednesday, with the State Department warning individual Serb commanders they could face war-crimes prosecution for their involvement in the crackdown against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said there were no plans to halt the air attacks.

"We are moving into a much more aggressive air campaign," he said in Brussels. "This is no time to pause."

Shea said NATO would accept nothing less than full Yugoslav compliance with NATO conditions for a Kosovo settlement, which include the return of Kosovo refugees and an interim peace accord monitored by thousands of NATO-led ground troops.

Shea said the Serb crackdown against ethnic Albanians was continuing, with 42,000 expelled on Tuesday. Overall, 912,000 Kosovo Albanians have been displaced in the past year because of the conflict, he added.

Serbian TV reported that buildings at an oil refinery in Novi Sad were destroyed

More aid for refugees

The refugee situation in the region improved Wednesday after Macedonia finished emptying the border enclave at Blace, where tens of thousands of Kosovo refugees had been trapped for days in squalid conditions.

Between 25,000 and 30,000 ethnic Albanians were bused overnight to new NATO tent cities at Stenkovec and other locations, where they received hot meals and medical attention.

Meanwhile, Yugoslav authorities on Wednesday reportedly closed the border between Yugoslavia and neighboring Macedonia and Albania.

Captured U.S. soldiers soon free?

In Cyprus, acting President Spyros Kyprianou said he was close to arranging the release of three U.S. soldiers who were captured by Serb forces while on patrol last week.

In Belgrade, a senior Yugoslav official confirmed to CNN that a delegation from Cyprus was expected to discuss the matter.

NATO on Wednesday rejected any conditions that Belgrade might attach to the men's possible release.

Britain lashes out at Milosevic

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, speaking in London, said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was responsible for the Serb economy shrinking by more than half -- an economic situation that stood in stark contrast to Milosevic's personal wealth.

"Tell the people of Serbia how much wealth you have sucked out during the same years they have been impoverished in Serbia," Cook said.

Serbian TV shows footage of damage

Serbian television said Wednesday that NATO'S rejection of the announced unilateral cease-fire proved NATO's "criminal intentions" to impose foreign "occupation" troops on the country.

Cook described Milosevic's cease-fire announcement as a "sham."

A statement from the Yugoslav army said the armed forces were abiding by the cease-fire, and there was no military activity in the province except NATO attacks.

Government media said the targets included a fuel storage facility at the airport near Pristina, Kosovo's capital; a residential area near the old post office in central Pristina; a fuel depot in the village of Devet Jugovica and unspecified targets in Ajvalija and Gracanica on the outskirts of Pristina.

State television also said a garage and warehouse at an oil refinery in Novi Sad, Serbia's second largest city, were destroyed, and that the industrial zone in the central Serbian city of Nis was attacked.

A group of professors from Belgrade University, mostly members of the neo-Communist Yugoslav Left led by Milosevic's wife, stood on a Belgrade bridge throughout the night to serve as a "human shield" against the NATO attacks.

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