Russian forces unleashed a round-the-clock bombardment of Grozny yesterday as a leading general said Moscow had begun a decisive stage in its campaign to quell the rebel republic.
The Chechen capital experienced one of its heaviest bombardments in the eight-week Russian offensive launched ostensibly to wipe out "bandits" and Islamic "terrorists", with at least 15 people reported killed.
Meanwhile, President Yeltsin, again recuperating from illness, ordered that a draft bill be sent to parliament which would give amnesty to surrendering rebels who had not committed serious crimes.
According to official figures, 208 Russian soldiers have died since the start of the ground invasion on October 1st, while the Soldiers' Mothers Committee said 600 servicemen, mainly raw recruits, had been killed.
Yesterday strike-aircraft, helicopter gunships, field guns and tanks on the northern and western outskirts of the beleaguered rebel capital unloaded tonnes of high explosive on Grozny, which is 80 per cent surrounded.
"Missile and artillery strikes have been carried out against Grozny today and an important blow has been struck" against the 6,000 Chechen fighters defending the city, said Gen Valery Manilov, deputy chief-of-staff.
"It will continue," the general said, adding: "The main part of the third phase should end before the end of the year."
Chechen military officials reported fierce clashes between Russian and Chechen troops near Alkhan-Yurt, a small village about 15km south of Grozny.
The strategic town of Urus-Martan, 20km south of the capital, also came in for heavy punishment.
A Russian major, who only identified himself as Sergei, dismissed claims that federal forces would be in control of Grozny by the end of the year.
"At this stage we can only speak of taking control of the Severny [Sheikh Mansur] airport," he added, referring to Grozny's airport.
Urus-Martan and Shali, 20km south-east of Grozny, are the last Chechen ramparts holding open escape routes from the capital to the mountainous south, which is not yet in Russian hands.
Gen Manilov also announced that Russian forces had killed about 4,000 rebels since opening the air campaign on September 5th. Chechen officials say more than 4,500 civilians have been killed by the Russians so far.
The war took a new turn overnight, when drunken Russian soldiers drove their armoured vehicle into a Chechen refugee camp in Ingushetia and killed a female vendor who failed to provide them with alcohol.
A 10-year-old boy and a 20-year-old woman remained in hospital in a serious condition following the attack on one of the largest Chechen refugee camps, just kilometres from the war zone.
Five Russian soldiers were arrested in connection with the attack.
Russians were yesterday questioning whether President Yelt sin's latest illness was genuine or if he had been ordered off the scene by hawkish generals bent on finishing off the Chechen war on their own terms.
"Has there been a military coup in Russia?" asked the liberal Sevodnya daily. "Either the President really has health problems or Yeltsin was sent on sick leave by the defence and interior ministers . . . with the silent approval of [Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin."