The remains of a house in Valjevo RELATED VIDEO: What does Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin hope to gain by delivering his plan directly to President Clinton? CNN's Betsy Aaron investigates. (May 3) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Refugees arrive at the Albanian border night and day; the greetings and assistance they receive varies by their arrival time. CNN's Jane Arraf reports. (May 3) 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: Latest from Kosovo The Kosovo refugees Images of NATO bomb attack on Serbian TV headquarters The Serbs and Kosovo  THE DELUGE OF REFUGEES: Where are they going?  ALSO: Blair visits Macedonia camp as refugee crisis boils Chernomyrdin heads to Washington with latest Russian proposal Soldiers being reunited with families  MESSAGE BOARD: Crisis in Kosovo  MAPS: NATO officials describe the air campaign  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: NATO at 50 Strike on Yugoslavia

May 3, 1999
Web posted at: 1:56 p.m. EDT (1756 GMT)

In this story: Diplomatic efforts continue RELATED STORIES, SITES

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Yugoslav media reported Monday that NATO airstrikes hit a bus traveling from the western Kosovo city of Pec to Rozaje in neighboring Montenegro, killing at least 20 people.

There was no immediate confirmation from NATO officials on the noontime airstrike, nor could the report be independently confirmed.

If true, it would be the second bus mistakenly struck by NATO bombs in three days. NATO admitted that a bomb struck a bus crossing a bridge north of Pristina on Saturday. Serb media said 39 people died in that attack.

Overnight, airstrikes took on what NATO officials called a "new feature" of bombing -- striking at Yugoslavia's power grid. Nearly three quarters of the country was plunged into darkness Sunday night when NATO bombs hit five power facilities.

"No power means no runway lights, no secure communications at all," said NATO spokesman Jamie Shea during the alliance's regular briefing. "NATO has its finger on the light switch in Yugoslavia, and we can turn the power off when we need to and when we want to."

Pentagon sources said NATO used so-called "soft" bombs that explode over the targets, and then shower the electric transformers and lines with tiny carbon fibers that short out the systems.

Earlier, Shea said that NATO had taken precautions "to ensure that important civilian facilities, like hospitals, had ... back-up transformers to keep their systems running through these power outages."

"We regret the inconvenience that power outages have caused the Serb people," Shea said in Brussels, "but we had no choice to continue attacking every element of the Yugoslav armed forces until such time as President (Slobodan) Milosevic meets the demands of the international community."

Large parts of Yugoslavia were still without electricity Monday.

Serb media also said that NATO missiles meant to strike an ammunition factory in Valjevo apparently missed their targets, striking a residential area. International journalists said about 40 homes in the town were damaged. NATO acknowledged that the factory was a target, but could not confirm any errant bombs.

Diplomatic efforts continue

NATO's bombing campaign began on March 24, after Milosevic rejected an international proposal to end the conflict between Serbs and ethnic Albanians living in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

That proposal called for an international peacekeeping force in Kosovo with NATO at its core. Milosevic has insisted that Yugoslavia can police the agreement itself.

Diplomatic efforts to end the crisis have so far failed. But Russia, a long-time Serbian ally, has dispatched special Balkans envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin to Washington to deliver Russia's latest proposal to U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Workers clear debris from apartment buildings destroyed in Valjevo

And American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who secured the release of three American soldiers held prisoner by Yugoslav authorities for over a month, is expected to meet with Clinton later Monday. Jackson is carrying a letter from Milosevic asking for a face-to-face meeting with the American president.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said such a meeting was unlikely.

"I would suggest that (Milosevic) shouldn't keep too much time available on his schedule," Lockhart said.

Both the White House and NATO said there can be no deal until Milosevic meets all NATO demands, including ordering his forces out of Kosovo and accepting a Western plan that calls for 28,000 NATO troops to enforce peace in the province.

Correspondent Brent Sadler and John King contributed to this report.

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